The Hartland Memorial Day Parade has long been a tradition in Livingston County. It was a privilege to be invited to march in this ceremony of remembrance for those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and our way of life.

After marching in the parade, I joined with other volunteers from the Livingston County Republican Party in saying thank you to active duty military serving overseas. Citizens visiting our booth signed greeting cards thanking our troops for defending our great nation. These greeting cards were mailed to a Marine Avionics Chief to distribute to his fellow Marines serving overseas.

Here is a note from the Marine Avionics Chief requesting mail and care packages for his unit.

I am the Avionics Chief for VMM-163 Avionics Division. As a Marine on his 12th deployment, I've seen the sad faces when service members don't get any mail. I've also seen how happy it makes the service member to get anything in the mail. My request is that my Marines get anything that reminds them of home. We are on a ship and do have a ship's store but like I said, the smiles on their faces of opening a box from home helps the service member to forget for a moment they are deployed. Thank you for allowing me to submit a request.  

Note: For many years I have used the website http://anysoldier.com/index.cfm to connect with troops and thank them for all they do for our country. This website provides contact information for troops, allowing ordinary citizens to show their support by directly mailing cards, letters, and care packages. This is how I obtained the contact information for the Marine Avionics Chief.

Thank you to Mitch Anderson, Summer McMullen, and Denise O'Connell for volunteering to staff our booth,

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”

–General George S. Patton

“The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way -- be willing to give of ourselves.”

–Former President Ronald Reagan