Memorial Day

My sister and brother-in-law are in town for a couple of days along with my nephews and niece. All of the kids are having a grand time.

This morning we went to the Memorial service at Camp Nelson National cemetery. I hadn't been to a ceremony on Memorial Day with my sister for a very long time. It was a beautiful day, for some they thought little hot. We did have to find a shade tree of the kids. We listened through the program and then were called to attention as taps were played and the guns rang out the salute of 21.

I gave thanks for the life of my uncle, Ron Markel, who died in early May, 1968 in Vietnam. As a boy we always observed Memorial Day with a service in the cemetery in Waldron, MI. After the service we would visit uncle Ron's grave. Today being in a National cemetery was the closest I could get.

Tonight my sister told me a story I had never heard about my uncle Ron and my mom. When my mom was just a young girl, maybe 18 months, she fell into a water tank for cattle and couldn't get out. Ron ran to the house, he was only a year older, yelling my mom's name. He gained the attention of my grandparents and they rescued my mom. My uncle Ron saved my mom's life, and thus we're here tonight.

Thanks Uncle Ron, though I have never known you, you shaped my life in more ways than I can know. May your rest be eternal, may your joy in the presence of Jesus be full, may we someday meet in the great cloud of witnesses.