Memorial Day is not just a holiday. It’s not about cookouts or three-day weekends. It’s a day carved out for remembrance—raw, real, and reverent. It’s the day we honor the Americans who never came home.
More than 1.3 million men and women have died wearing the uniform of the United States military. That number carries weight—but it's not the number that matters most. It’s the names. The faces. The empty chairs at dinner tables. The flags folded and handed to grieving hands. Every fallen service member gave up their future so that ours could continue.
I was named after my uncle, Staff Sergeant Charles Austin Pennington, a gunner in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. On April 25, 1944, his plane was shot down over Italy. He died fighting tyranny—one of the countless young men who never got to come home to a parade or a handshake, but who gave everything before the war was won. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, and an Oak Leaf Cluster. His heroism included helping to down an enemy aircraft. The War Department sent his mother the letter no parent should ever receive.
We also honor Lieutenant (j.g.) Jack Cates Ferguson, my wife Betty’s uncle. He was a Navy aviator, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1935, and a man known for his spirit, his grit, and his love of country. After flying with the Asiatic Fleet, he earned his wings and married the love of his life. Just weeks before Pearl Harbor, on November 6, 1941, his scout bomber crashed during a training flight near San Diego. He was 28.
They didn’t die for recognition. They didn’t do it for fame. They did it because they believed in something bigger than themselves—something worth dying for. And we, the living, are the stewards of that sacrifice.
Memorial Day is not just a day off. It is a day of duty—our duty—to remember.
So please, take the time. Teach your children. Don’t let this day drift by with the noise of everyday life. Let it land. Let it humble you. Let it remind you that freedom is never free.
God bless every family that gave their children to defend our country. And God bless the United States of America.