A repost for Memorial Day, May 27, 2024

During WWII, my brother, Ralph “Ike” Phillips, was a 19 year old Infantryman, a member of the 84th Infantry Division. They landed at Normandy, fought their way across France, then into Germany, and up into Belgium, just in time for the largest land battle in human history.   He was captured by German soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge. He was taken behind enemy lines where he was ordered to be shot. As he walked to his death behind an old farmhouse, he suddenly bolted and ran for the woods. His captors were startled, and fired their rifles at a target that zigged and zagged, but would not stop. He ran 10 miles to safety. He lived to fight on and to help liberate 3 concentration camps, and capture 70,000 German soldiers, winning 2 Purple Hearts and 2 Bronze Stars and the right to face anything that life had to offer. Ike died at age 94. He could look back on 70 years of marriage to his childhood sweetheart, at 8 beautiful children, and grand children too numerous to count. His is a story of character, and bravery, and the will to live. It is a legacy that reminds us...Even in our darkest moments, Never, Never, Never give up.

No Time to Die We live to make choices, for better or worse. We can choose to find happiness, or someone to curse. We can walk in the sunlight, or hide in the hills; We embrace who we are, our dreams and our skills. We share our good fortune, it's ours only to rent We could give it away and go live in a tent.   We're not always able to dig deep and give Sometimes we teach others why their duty’s to live. We can lose all we’ve got in the blink of an eye, We rarely know when, or whither, or why. Fate shows us our options, then with a thousand small voices It appeals to our strengths, and not to our choices.   In a moment of truth, and in spite of our fears We can make a choice that defines us for years. We can look deep within us, or up to the sky We can ask “Why me?” or shout “This mountain’s too high” – But that war was our fight, it came on our time. Though he was a young man, barely into his prime.   He chose to fight on, he wanted to live He had too much to do, and too much to give. He fought for what’s right, it was the least he could do. He looked death in the eye, and rejected its view. In that one single moment, though his odds were not high He chose to fight on; he had no time to die.