Tonight, my heart is heavy...

Our area has lost two more guys in Iraq. That brings the total from my little state to 37. How many from your state have died? Anyone from your hometown? Anyone you know?

The website I link above is very comprehensive. However, to put faces with the names, I suggest visiting the Washington Post Faces of the Fallen. All you have to do is click on one of the thumbnail pictures to get a larger picture on the right along with where that soldier was from and how he/she died. There, you might find my stepsister's good friend who was killed on Christmas Eve 2003. He left behind a wife (his high school sweetheart) and two children.

Do you know the total number of US military casualties since the beginning of "Operation Iraqi Freedom"? (As of this moment, that number is 1,657. ONE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN!) And that is only US military casualties. That does not include contractor casualties or civilian casualties or military casualties from other countries. That also does not include the military casualties of "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan. (That number happens to be 184 US miltary casualties at this moment.)

If you were to take just one minute in remembrance on Memorial Day for each and every US military death in Iraq, there are not enough hours in the day. It would take you over 27½ HOURS NONSTOP to be able to remember each one.

So this Memorial Day, in the midst of your extra day off work, your grilling out, your traveling, your fun with family and friends... please take just a few minutes to think of the families who are now missing a loved one. Especially the ones who just found out their son or daughter has died and are spending their Memorial Day weekend grieving and making funeral arrangements.

Say a prayer for peace.