It is a day to honor and remember.  To honor and remember all those who have given their lives in the defense of our nation.  It is called Memorial Day.  And while we may have many different plans for the day, I believe it is good and proper to take some time to remember those who have laid down their lives.  One who did so was Private Martin Treptow.  He was from rural Wisconsin and in 1917, could be found working in a small barbershop in Cherokee, Iowa.  World War 1 raged, and when the US entered the conflict, Martin enlisted in the Army.  On July 29, 1917, he was serving in the famed “Rainbow Division,” which was engaged in heavy fighting.  Private Treptow volunteered to take an important message to another battalion and set out under dangerous and heavy machine gun fire.  He died trying to deliver the message.  When his lifeless body was recovered, Martin’s diary was found in the pocket of his shirt and written on one of the first pages were found words that can define why we observe Memorial Day.  It read, “My Pledge: America must win this war.  Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”  From a barbershop in smalltown America to the battlefields of France, Private Martin Treptow wrote the simple words that embody the reason we honor those who, from 1775 at Lexington and Concord through today, have given “the last full measure of devotion.”  America, America, God shed His grace on Thee.