{"id":40688,"date":"2014-05-22T20:41:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T00:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miserybay.usanethosting.com\/wordpress\/?p=40688"},"modified":"2014-05-22T20:41:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T00:41:00","slug":"letters-131","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/letters-131\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Memorial Day take time to remember the sacrifice of America\u2019s true heroes <!--more--><br \/>\nAmerica is the land of the free because we\u2019re the home of the brave.<br \/>\nMemorial Day is a time for us to honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to America, pay tribute to their memory and celebrate everything they fought and died to protect.<br \/>\nThankfully, many of our heroes do come home safely, and one way to honor our fallen heroes is to support their fellow service men and women when they return. In fact, May is Military Appreciation Month, recognizing those who are currently serving, have served or died serving.<br \/>\nAs a member of the Senate veterans committee, I am proud of the steps we have made to support our veterans and honor their sacrifices. For example, many veterans put the defense of liberty before their own education.<br \/>\nEarlier this year, the governor signed my legislation to allow schools to award a high school diploma to veterans who served in the Vietnam War instead of completing high school. To some people, a diploma may seem like a small thing, but to our veterans and their families it is an important acknowledgment of everything they gave up so that we could remain free.<br \/>\nUnfortunately, since our nation\u2019s founding, more than 1 million patriots have given their lives protecting America. It is a debt we can never repay, but one that we can sincerely honor. That\u2019s why it is so important to preserve the \u201cmemorial\u201d in Memorial Day.<br \/>\nI encourage everyone to do something this Memorial Day to honor America\u2019s true heroes. One special tribute is the National Moment of Remembrance. This observance asks all citizens to pause in their daily activities at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day and stand together as a grateful nation in tribute to those who gave the full measure.<br \/>\nThere are many other ways to commemorate our fallen soldiers\u2019 sacrifice, including:<br \/>\n&#8211; Attending a local ceremony or parade. I will be paying tribute to service personnel at several Memorial Day events planned in the 33rd District.<br \/>\n&#8211; Flying your flag at home or the office at half-staff from sunrise to noon.<br \/>\nThis Memorial Day, let\u2019s remember the soldiers who died in the defense of freedom and make sure the legacy of their sacrifice and service is never taken for granted or forgotten.<br \/>\nBy Sen. Judy Emmons<br \/>\n<em>Senator Judy K. Emmons serves the residents of the 33rd Senate District, which includes the counties of Clinton, Ionia, Isabella and Montcalm.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Memorial Day take time to remember the sacrifice of America\u2019s true heroes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}