Honoring the fallen and remembering our heroes

“We honor them with our services, we honor them with our legacies, we honor them with our prayers,” Jim Cordes, U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan said. “Today is not a day for those of us who made it home. It is for those who returned home in a flag draped coffin. Their blood has stained the soil of many countries, including our own.”
Cordes spoke to those in attendance at the VFW Memorial Day ceremony and reminded them to remember and honor the fallen, but to not forget all scars are not visible in those who survived. Using his own story, Cordes spoke of how those who return from war have invisible scars which need to be addressed.
Cordes encouraged those attending to be there for their loved ones and encouraged the service members to open up to their family and friends.
“If we open up to them, they can understand. The problem is we like to hide,” Cordes said.
Giving three groups of people in our lives Cordes said is there to help service members, he reminded those who have served to use those people. Additionally, he encouraged those in attendance to always be available to help any service member returning from deployment.
“There are three specific sets of people to help us,” Cordes said.
He said the three sets are friends, family and God.
Due to weather, the service was moved from the courthouse square to the VFW building. In addition to Cordes being the guest speaker, Allen Bryant played Taps, Andrea Young sang the National Anthem and a patriotic song, and VFW Post Commander Larry Harrell presided over the program.