In memory, out of respect...

Today a fallen soldier was laid to rest.  Sgt. Anthony Peterson was from Chelsea, which, for all you far away friends, is just north of where I live in Claremore.  He was killed in action in Afghanistan.  I didn’t know Sgt. Peterson, though many of my friends did.  But I respect him and I wish to dedicate today’s blog to thank him and his family for the ultimate sacrifice he made for my freedom.  The freedom that allows me to have a college education, a career and a family.  The freedom that allows me to go where I want when I want, spend money on things I don’t need, eat food that is bad for me and throw good stuff away.  The freedom to write whatever I feel like on this very blog.  And the freedom that allowed me to stand on the street and show my respect as the funeral procession went by… 

Our ladder truck waving Old Glory in memory of Sgt. Peterson

This morning at around 8:30, I and the rest of my coworkers here at City Hall closed the building up and walked out into the street with our flags.  The entire stretch of Will Rogers Boulevard from Highway 66 to the First Baptist Church where the funeral was to be held was lined with supporters… men, women, children… moms, dads, sons, daughters, friends… many of them, like myself, didn’t know Sgt. Peterson.  But they understood and respect the sacrifice made by that young man and they value what his life meant and his death will forever represent.  Those supporters stood with tears in their eyes as the funeral procession of a man they never met went down the street.  Their hearts were broken as if he was one of their own.  And that’s because he was. 

The start of the processional

It’s days like today that make me proud to be an American and proud to be from this wonderful small town where the people here love their soldiers and treat them with the respect they have so honorably earned.  A special thanks to all the military personnel who have stood in my place on the front lines.  And a special thanks to their husbands, wives, children, mothers and fathers who have lost precious time with their loved ones all in the name of my freedom.  And a very special thanks to Sgt. Anthony Peterson who made the ultimate sacrifice for me.