From all the members of Kerbela Temple, Thank You.

For those who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America we are eternally grateful. 

For the lost sons and daughters of war we can only swear on our sacred honor that we will never forget their courageous sacrifice, and pray that theirs may be the last. 

Though war is not intrinsically a noble and honorable endeavor, it is those who rise to the challenge and engage in it for the greater good that make it so. 

They are all of us, and we are they. When one of them dies or is missing, our resolve is strengthened by the loss equal to the degree that the lost soldier is honored and remembered by we who remain alive and free. 

Thus, it is our patriotic duty to honor those who have been lost in the service of our country, and never allow them to be forgotten.

For those who have served honorably and returned alive, we celebrate the opportunity to welcome them home and thank them for their service. 

For they are the ones who, at an age when life is boundless and experience limited, leave their homes and families and travel to foreign lands to take up arms on our behalf. 

Too soon they become aware that victory, honor, and their very survival require more of them than idealistic rhetoric had ever revealed.

No amount of training has prepared them for what they must endure. And yet they stay...noble paladins...they obey, they endure, they fight on...they survive. 

When finally they return home, they are forever changed. Some outwardly, some in other ways. 

Now we must do no less than Thank and Honor them for doing what the rest of us could not, and Welcome them Home as the Heroes they have become. To do less diminishes us all.

Alone and far removed from earthly care
The noble ruins of men lie buried here.
you are strong men, good men
Endowed with youth and much the will to live.
I hear no protest from the mute lips of the dead.
They rest: there is no more to give
So Long My Comrades,
Sleep where ye fell upon the field.
But tread Softly please
March O'er my heart with ease
March on and on
But to God alone we kneel."

Audie L. Murphy, 1948

LET FREEDOM RING

Amid skies of blue and seas of green
There’s a promised land that lies between

Where America’s youth will sign their name 
They’ll train to fight they’ll play war games

Then terror strikes the nation fears
And mothers eyes swell up with tears

How many parents will have to be told
Your son died brave your son died bold

They know the cost, they take the risk
And then upon one morning brisk

The sound of gunfire heard in the distance
Bullets pierce metal with little resistance

Rotor blades slice through the air like a knife
As eight brave men take their last breaths of life

Casualties of war now there are ten
A fate they knew well but held deep within

The price of our freedom is innocence lost
But freedom we’ll keep no matter the cost

Twenty one gun salutes young men laid to rest
They gave their all they gave their best

Courage under fire whatever it brings
Paying the ultimate price to let freedom ring

Ralph W. Hayward
03-06-02

THE MARINE

We all came together,
Both young and old.
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.

Peace and not war,
Is what some people say.
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.

I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a US MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.

Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won.

Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor.
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done.

By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert
US Marine
USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF

“They Gave Their Tomorrows”

By Lois Daley Laycock

Would he ever come back ?
Was on the soldier's mind
Determined to defend his country
And destroy the enemy lines
He gazed at the angry waters
As he sailed across the sea
Knowing his destination
Was the shore of Normandy
He tried not to show
The fear he felt inside
Now he faced the enemy
There was no place to hide
He walked through the carnage
A sight he will never forget
The cries, the moans
And the stench of death
No time to mourn his fallen comrades
No time to share their pain
Only time to witness courage
Over and over again
Brave comrades gave their "Tomorrows"
That we have our "Todays"
So let the poppies bloom forever
On their silent graves
---1996--