Donald K. Allen for President

Top of the Week

May 26, 2008
Memorial Day

Today we joined friends to watch the Memorial Day parade in Poland, OH. It rained just before the parade started, but stopped in time for a great traditional celebration to take place. There were current soldiers, sailors, airmen, and many in uniform who have served their country before. The Poland High School band looked sharp and played beautifully, and our country’s flag passed many times in the procession. This is the day that we honor our many fallen servicemen and women who paid the ultimate price for freedom throughout this world defending liberty and freedom. Sometimes we forget this.

This is the day we remember also those who’s remains never returned to native soil, to be buried in family plots and national cemeteries. Those are the Missing In Action, Presumed Dead and those who died and were buried at sea. They are but a memory to their families. Most were young men around 20 years old, just beginning their lives with hopes, dreams, and plans for their futures. Instead their lives were sacrificed so that we could stand today in freedom on a sunny day in small towns and big cities all over their country, honoring their gift to us. Freedom is never free. It has a high cost in blood and fortune, and it is worth every drop and penny.

When you see a serviceman or woman in uniform at an airport or on the street, take a moment to say, “Thank you.” They are the shields and protectors of you, your family, and our way of life. It means more than you can imagine.

The GI Bill helped me get through college. I believe that today’s GI Bill should apply to everyone who has successfully completed at least one “hitch,” or tour of duty, whether that is two, three, or four years. They volunteered to stand in harm’s way, and that is enough. It’s not a matter of how many years, and many have perished in combat during their first months of service. It happens.

The GI Bill funds could also be a part of my proposed “Opportunity Scholarship,” a repayment plan for completed semesters of college. Educating all of our children is the key to America’s future, and this Scholarship would ensure that any high school graduate who wants to go to college will be able to do so. Veterans would not have to come up with college’s first term tuition, as everyone else would. The Opportunity Scholarship will repay that tuition at the end of every successful term to allow the student to reenroll until graduation, when the last term’s fees would be repaid. The billions this program would require would come from the thousands of “earmarks” that will no longer be approved, as well as from foreign aid funds after privatization of foreign aid. We need to take care of ourselves first. That’s my mission.