It’s rather appropriate that this year’s Armed Forces Day celebration falls in the middle of Port O’Connor’s annual observance of Warrior’s Weekend. “Many Americans celebrate Armed Forces Day annually on the third Saturday of May. It is a day to pay tribute to men and women who serve the United States’ armed forces.”

The very first celebration of Armed Forces Day took place on May 20, 1950, some 65 years ago. However, though Warrior’s Weekend wasn’t founded until 2007, its founders and facilitators are no less enthused about, and engaged in honoring our brave men and women of the military, who have sacrificed so much to protect these United States of America from the onslaught of terrorism. Our debt of gratitude is obvious. Therefore, Port O’Connor and its fellow participants in Warrior’s Weekend, willingly and cheerfully open our arms and hearts to those who have served this country so faithfully.

Perhaps the following poem will make clear our grateful sentiments:

Here’s to the men of the red, white, and blue;
Whose patriot’s hearts burned high…
To the women who served us on land and on sea,
Some even in the sky.

I’d like to say, “Thank you, that we’ll never know
The outcome if you had not gone,”
And to tell you, “I’ll never forget your deed,
As long as my life lingers on.”

For, I was a child, when the great war came,
And you just a dozen years more.
Some of you fought on a distant beach,
Some died on a foreign shore.

I’d hate to forget those heroes of old,
From the ‘War to end all wars.’
Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm
Proved that men fight evermore.

God, help us all when brave men say,
“Not today. Let’s just wait and see.”
For, tyrants come in so many ways
And I’ve heard of complacency.

When integrity falls in the dust by the way,
When conviction fails to command,
When there’s no one to bugle or carry the flag,
What will become of our land?

So, here’s to the heroes and heroines true!
Here’s to the brave and the free!
With my hand on my chest as the flag passes by,
I remember what you did for me!!!

Tribute to Armed Forces Day by Joan Clifton Costner