Special thanks on Memorial Day to troops back from Afghanistan

By: Morning News | SCNow
Published: May 26, 2008

For many, today is the last day of a three-day holiday weekend.

Most are out of work and school and are enjoying the time off with cookouts and parties and short vacation trips.

Even with the high gasoline prices and higher food costs making it more expensive, it’s nice to have the holiday.

But remember that this is a time to honor our military and especially those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

And for many in South Carolina and the Pee Dee, we take special pride this year in our South Carolina National Guard troops, many from the Pee Dee, who just returned from Afghanistan.

They left their families and jobs and served fighting in a war that’s off the radar screen for most people because of the conflict in Iraq.

But the battles in Afghanistan will definitely have a bearing on our future.

And so we thank those soldiers, their families and also their employers who support the guard by doing without those employees during their deployment.

Here, in Florence, we have a special place to pay tribute at the Florence National Cemetery, where so many veterans are buried.

For many years, Florence and the other national cemetery in Beaufort were the only two in our state.

Soon, another one will be open near Fort Jackson in Columbia.

And last Friday, South Carolina’s M.J. “Dolly” Cooper Veterans Cemetery was dedicated in Anderson.

Both the new national cemetery in Columbia and the state-operated one in Anderson are there because of the growing number of veterans living in South Carolina.

So, take a minute during the day today to honor our veterans.

If you don’t get to an official ceremony, just take a moment to reflect on what they have meant to our country and to you.