Memorial Day Message By Congressional Candidate Mike Frisbee

Today, millions of Americans take a day to relax, break out the grills for the first time, head to the lake to inaugurate what many see as the first day of summer.

Today is more than just an end to a fun three day weekend, it is a day that we must and should remember our fallen soldiers. They deserve that respect, we owe that respect, for it is through their sacrifice that we have so much to be thankful for, even during these hard economic times.

My own family has a long history of service to this country, extending all the way back to the War of Independence. Lt Col Philip Frisbie served with the Massachusetts regiment, to bring freedom and liberty to this country. On through the years, generation after generation, they served to keep that freedom and liberty.

My grandfather passed in 1992, he had served in the US Navy. It was during one of his shore leaves in Philadelphia, while disembarking and walking the pier towards town that he met a tall, beautiful blonde of Polish-German descent, whose parents had emigrated here during World War I. He was instantly mesmerized and boldly went up to her to claim that one day, she would be his wife.

Needless to say, she laughed and thought he was crazy. She informed him she was engaged to a Lieutenant serving in the Pacific. That didn't dash the hopes of the young Petty Officer. Later that night, he ran into her again at the USO club where she had gone with a bunch of her lady friends to dance. He convinced her to dance with him, just this once. She did, and then they danced again, and again, and on into the early hours.

Six months later - they were married. They gave this country five strong boys, each having served, one to the Air Force, one to the Navy, one to the Army, and two to the Marines. Uncles Ralph and Stan have passed over the past several years, both missed by their families.

My father was one of the two that served in the Marines, and served fourteen months of his time in Viet Nam. After his tour there, he served as a Drill Instructor at Paris Island. He stands proud today of his service, as do I. The saying, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine" is personified in my father. He remembers and memorializes those he served with and lost in Viet Nam. I remember as a young man, my father designed and had made a bronze plaque in memory of those comrades in arms. Later - he helped to personally fund and provided the landscaping services to bring the "Moving Wall", a mobile, half scale replica of the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial to Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. It allowed people from all over central Pennsylvania who couldn't make it to Washington, DC to be able to go and pay their respects to family and friends lost during that time.

It's men like my father that I want to have remembered, as well as the women who have served, that may not be gone yet, and are still here. Yes - we have Veterans Day, but many of these Veterans like my father bear scars from those battles and service that lie deep but never forgotten.

While we remember the men and women that have died in serving our country and protecting the amazing freedoms and liberties we hold dear, remember their comrades that still live today, tell them "Thank You" for their service and sacrifice. Let them know that you love them for more than being just family, but for being a true hero.

We need to also think of those Founding Fathers that risked their own lives, their fortunes, their families to bring us this freedom that our veterans sacrifice to protect. If it wasn't for that rabble rousing group of liberty seeking patriots rising up to lead this nation, bring the hope and promise of freedom, and resist the most powerful nation of that time, we would not be who we are today.

Finally, thank the One that made the ultimate sacrifice, whose blessings over us as a Nation and as Individuals provided us. It is He who endows us the rights and freedoms that our Constitution was written by our Founding Fathers to protect from a zealous and tyrannical Federal Government. It is vital that each and every one of us remember that our rights are not granted us by the Constitution, but are protected by it. It is OUR duty to return and restore our roles as self governed sovereign individuals, to put those that serve us in Congress on notice that we are done with their criminal ways. It is time to go beyond the electoral ballot to make changes in Congress.

Our freedoms are too precious, the sacrifices by our men and women to protect them too dear, to allow those in Washington to take them away and give us up to the enemy.

So remember America, grieve for the fallen, cherish those that are still with us, and tomorrow, begin the work to take back what is ours by Law and by God.