I-95 was probably bumper to bumper sometime during May 24th-27th, as people traveled to wherever to celebrate a 3-day long weekend. Hamburgers and hotdogs hit the grills, people opened their pools, and ice cream was in good supply. Some families went to the cemetery to put flowers on their loved one’s graves. Parades were paraded and by Tuesday morning Memorial Day was over.
Memorial Day is so much more than a picnic and a chance to sleep in Monday morning if you’re lucky. Memorial Day is a time of remembrance honoring the men and the women who died while serving in the United States military from the Revolutionary War to present. How many people are we honoring? According to several sites and statistical data a bit over 1 million. To put it into a little perspective, the current population of Dallas, Texas is almost 1.3 million.
John 15:13 (KJV) says this: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” For those who gave their lives, friends goes a lot further than those they fought with. It was the people they left behind when they went to war. Wives, children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, and so on and so forth were left behind to serve a greater purpose. Some came back. Some did not. Memorial Day honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Pfc. Robert Ison is one soldier who paid that price. Killed in action in the Battle of the Bulge after being hit by machine gun fire he was buried in a cemetery in France until 1948 then his body was returned home and interred with a military funeral. Colleton County’s own Noel Ison was six years old when he buried his father with his family. At 17, Noel joined the Army as well as his brother, and Noel’s son joined as well. Other family members have joined the U.S. Armed Forces in order to fulfill Pfc. Robert Ison’s mission: to protect and preserve our freedom.
