An interesting thing happened this Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery. A gal who has a POW/MIA bracelet with my brother’s name on it visited ANC again this year, as she has done many times before. For the past two years though she specifically stops by Herby’s grave to pay her respects.

Notice the laminated card at the bottom left in the photo? I left that photo last December [2008] when I placed a wreath on Herby’s grave during the Wreaths Across America event. I wanted to leave a photo so anyone coming by would have a visual of who he was, along with the pertinent dates and his company information. On the back side is a photo of him wearing his “Crosby Firebird 91” helmet along with his company’s Firebird patch (71st Assault Helicopter Company). I put the two together and laminated them in hopes the weather wouldn’t destroy them through a couple months until the wreaths were removed.

She also attended the ceremony of the President laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Memorial Day. She sent me the small flag and program she received as part of the crowd who attended.

When I saw this photo I couldn’t believe my photo was still there this long and through Memorial Day! That the wind didn’t blow it away over six month’s time, nor did the groundskeepers remove it.

I wrote her a thank you for the photos, and asked if she placed this thinking that maybe she got the photo from the Firebird91 website. She replied that no, she didn’t leave it…it was already there. It was the one I left in December. Blew my mind!

I plan to attend the Wreaths Across America event again this year as I so enjoy volunteering to lay the beautiful wreaths on the graves of our country’s finest, our military veterans from all wars. This year we’ll lay 16,000 wreaths on December 12. It’s a truly humbling experience to do this and to walk in that hallowed ground.

I wonder if the photo will still be there in December? I plan to make up another one to replace the one that’s currently there (if it still is), and bring the original one back home with me.

Now isn’t that something?