Remembering in Gratitude Those Who Did Their Duty to the Republic

By |2023-06-02T11:47:54-05:00May 28th, 2023|Categories: Foreign Affairs, Memorial Day, Military, Timeless Essays, W. Winston Elliott III|

Today I honor the men and women of the United States military who have sacrificed their lives while doing their duty to the Republic. For them, and their families, I ask God to bless them and keep them. And for the fallen of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army [...]

Decoration Day, Memorial Day, & Fallen Heroes

By |2023-05-28T21:45:17-05:00May 28th, 2023|Categories: Civil War, Memorial Day, Military, Peter A. Lawler, Timeless Essays|Tags: , |

Memorial Day originates with the Civil War as “Decoration Day.” Southern women took up the task of decorating the graves of what turns to have been hundreds and hundreds of thousands of their fallen heroes. Theirs was highly civilized work—a duty maybe more Greek and Roman than Christian. So I’ve been criticized for saying that [...]

Let Us Remember Lexington and Concord!

By |2023-04-18T15:02:34-05:00April 18th, 2023|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Bradley J. Birzer, Memorial Day, Timeless Essays|

Outnumbering the Lexington militia nearly ten to one, the British easily won the skirmish. But, symbolically, they lost. For at the moment the first Lexingtonian died, the American Republic was born. British Major Pitcarne took six companies of an advance team to scout out Lexington, Massachusetts, early morning, April 19, 1775. Behind him marched nearly [...]

A War Hero’s Life: A Tribute to My Father

By |2024-03-04T17:21:34-06:00March 23rd, 2022|Categories: Heroism, Memorial Day, Military, Stephen M. Klugewicz, Timeless Essays, Veterans Day, World War II|

On January 25, 1945, the Battle of the Bulge ended. But not until a decade after my father’s death did I uncover the fact that he fought in what one historian has deemed the greatest battle in history. Cpl. Joseph D. Klugewicz won a Bronze Star for his actions against the Nazis that winter. But [...]

In Defense of Those Who Protect Us

By |2021-05-15T21:00:38-05:00June 8th, 2020|Categories: Conservatism, J.R.R. Tolkien, Louis Markos, Memorial Day, Military, Timeless Essays, Veterans Day, Virtue, War|

We must respect the difficulty and danger of the jobs of those who protect us and stop willfully blinding ourselves to the unpleasant realities around us. Let us defend, support, and celebrate our police and our military; without them, our world would be a far more perilous place. This semester, I am happily exercising one [...]

“Ode to Death”

By |2023-11-11T06:35:21-06:00November 11th, 2018|Categories: Audio/Video, Death, Gustav Holst, Memorial Day, Music, Veterans Day, War, World War I|

Gustav Holst wrote his "Ode to Death" in 1918-1919 in the wake of World War I. Though he received a medical exemption from military service, Holst had composer-friends who served (Ralph Vaughan Williams) and died (George Butterworth) in the horrific combat on the Western Front. The text of "Ode to Death" sets a section of [...]

Remembering the History of Memorial Day

By |2023-05-28T21:53:31-05:00May 25th, 2015|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Heroism, Memorial Day, War|

Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen [...]

In Defense of the American Military

By |2023-05-28T21:21:36-05:00May 25th, 2015|Categories: American Republic, Featured, History, Memorial Day, Military, Robert E. Lee, South, Stephen M. Klugewicz, Veterans Day, War|

The American military has traditionally promoted love of country, self-sacrifice, and courage. These latter two virtues, especially, are honed in wartime, and though war is always to be avoided due to its many attendant evils, there is no denying that it is a singular stage upon which great acts of sacrifice and stunning displays of [...]

“Burial At Sea”

By |2020-10-09T15:27:12-05:00May 26th, 2014|Categories: Memorial Day, Poetry|

Crisp in whites, eight men up, four on a side, slow-step  the horizontal coffin across the flat expanse of our carrier, toward the edge. The decks are quieted. Crews of men in oil-spotted work clothes give a wide perimeter. The air hangs vacantly, with no women present to stitch that familiar dense knot, that compact [...]

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