Author: Tami Martin

What pops into your head when someone mentions the Fourth of July?

To civilians, chances are it is barbecues, flags, parades, throwing back a few cold ones and watching the night sky light up. There is so much more to it than that.

Perhaps this Independence Day, all can join our veterans in truly appreciating what our independence and freedom mean as well as the cost to achieve it.

Let us remember that without the men and women who willingly sacrifice their lives to secure our freedom, we would have no Fourth of July to celebrate.

Remember that the birth of this nation came with the loss of life paid by heroes willing to sacrifice everything that we may know how precious our freedom and liberty truly are.

Thomas Jefferson authored his last letter on July 2, 1826. In it, he proclaimed the importance of Independence Day:

“For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”

Jefferson, one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, died two days later on the Fourth of July.