Memory - Remembering Those Who Served

Memory - noun
1. the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences.
2. this faculty as possessed by a particular individual: to have a good memory.
3. the act or fact of retaining and recalling impressions, facts, etc.; remembrance; recollection: to draw from memory.
4. the length of time over which recollection extends: a time within the memory of living persons.
5. a mental impression retained; a recollection: one's earliest memories.
6. the reputation of a person or thing, esp. after death; fame: a ruler of beloved memory.
7. the state or fact of being remembered.
8. a person, thing, event, fact, etc., remembered.
9. commemorative remembrance; commemoration: a monument in memory of someone or something.

Memorial - noun
1. something designed to preserve the memory of a person, event, etc., as a monument or a holiday.
2. a written statement of facts presented to a sovereign, a legislative body, etc., as the ground of, or expressed in the form of, a petition or remonstrance.
–adjective
3. preserving the memory of a person or thing; commemorative: memorial services.
4. of or pertaining to the memory.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

I have had a lot of time to think and remember these past weeks.  I have thought and remembered much of what I know about Peace Keepers from both study and experience. 

I deeply understand the need for memory and memorials.  It is right and proper that on this special day that we set aside this time to remember and be thankful...
To remember what all of the Peace Keepers in our past have done for us...
To be thankful for what they have done for us...
To show that thankfulness and great respect to those Peace Keepers of today as they continue the duty and sacrifices that give to us the opportunity to maintain and improve this great nation and beautiful life they all have purchased for us in their duty and sacrifices...
To, in that remembering and celebrating their gifts and sacrifices, re-commit ourselves...
To keep and preserve these gifts and sacrifices for ourselves and our posterity that it shall not fade from the earth in our lifetime...
So help us, God!

The best memorial that we are capable of giving to and for those we are remembering is a re-committal to duty and sacrifice ourselves...
To renew our efforts and our zeal...
To not just maintain but to improve the opportunities for a better way of life even in the face of all of the crime and lawlessness we are seeing and dealing with in our world today...

Ah, you say, "Can we do better?"  I have been almost 46 years in this journey through my peace keeping career.  I have witnessed great opportunities for improvement through refinements, new tools and better methods.  I marvel each time I work and each time I think on this subject even when not working as I see and use these great advancements.
Things I never dreamed of as a rookie are commonly used today to such a degree that many of us take them for granted.

In the beginning of my career I could not even imagine the everyday tools we use today...
cars, computers, cell phones, weapons... These are just a few of those areas of advancement... And many of these advancements came through the influences of the Peace Keepers of their day dreaming a better way and better methods... Finding the things that might work... Then working to bring them into reality and/or use.

Some of our advancements came through heroism under fire... They showed us a better way... They showed us areas that needed improvement... They bought our future at a tremendous cost of sacrifice.

I cannot remember the Peace Keepers of the past whose lives and efforts we celebrate today without a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat.

I lived several years of hard times in WW2 in my childhood without my father as he served in the final days of that war and served in the peace keeping occupation forces overseas.  I will never forget that marvelous day that I saw the figure of a man in khakis walking towards my home on the railroad tracks just after the northbound passenger train pulled out of the station and disappeared.  My mother saw the figure and screamed... Together we ran out the door and down the road... We threw ourselves upon him as we met him and we hugged one another together as we made our way back to our house at the top of the hill.

He had been gone three years.  I had grown to the age of six.  He was different and soon discovered that I was different also for I had just survived Infantile Paralysis and it had changed my personality greatly...  I was much more quiet and greatly subdued.  He went back to work with the railroad and life was very much better.  He came home.  Far too many soldiers did not come home.

Today I pause to remember him...
To remember all of the fallen of all of our wars...
To remember all of the veterans both living and dead who did not die on the field...
To remember all of my friends who are still with us who have served in peace keeping in many difficult times and in many difficult places... 
To remember all of you who are serving now...  Giving thanks for all Peace Keepers in service today and every day in our present time...
And to thank my Commander-In-Chief for the opportunity to live in a nation that is inhabited by those few in the population that have and will step out from the herd of mediocrity to see to the safety and welfare... and to give the opportunity for Life, Liberty, Peace and the Pursuit of Happiness to all the rest of us...

My Commander-In-Chief and I thank you all with the deepest of appreciation and thankfulness... Eternally and continuously... We thank you... All of you and each of you!

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others.  See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of you.  Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful.

Call or write if I may be of any service... Or if you just want to encourage me... Feedback encourages all who write... It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.  I am better but still not fully recovered from the illness.  I have recovered from the loss of my beloved dog.  I shall miss her but the pain is gone most of the time.

As it has always been... So it still is!!!

"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN."  Sun tzu

Training and practice are everything!
Without it, the best results are not obtained!

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics...  it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. 
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]

I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety)
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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