Written for the Brady Family List on Memorial Day 2002 By Donna Cuillard dcuillard@aol.com In remembrance of our loved ones who walked upon the battlefields of life, we offer this day, our love and gratitude. To those who came in the early days of this great Land, who left behind home and family and crossed the great waters in search of a new place where they could own land and live free. Into the wilderness they came, on foot, on horseback and in hand-hewn wagons, bringing only what they could carry. Up and over the mountains, across the rivers and valleys, following the paths they had seen in their minds. Creating a footpath that others would follow. Felling the great trees with their hands, laboring to clear a place to build a home. From the gently flowing streams they drew their life-sustaining waters.    From the bounties of nature they found food. Together they built small, crude cabins that would shelter them from the great storms of life.  Near their stone hearths they read by candlelight and prayed together.  Mothers and Fathers, children and friends, gathered together.  And there, beneath the ancient trees, they laid away their loved ones, into the land that waited to welcome them. Generation upon generation, they were called upon to defend an abstract idea called "Liberty."  Leaving behind all that was dear, they went to fight for that which was even dearer.  Fighting beneath the sacred red, white & blue, they gave their last full measure of devotion for us. Somehow they saw us.  They knew that what they did in their day would bless others.   They lighted a candle so many years ago and we live in the glow of their sacrifices. Our families serve today on distant shores, some served in Desert Storm, others in World War I and World War II, Some in the Civil War, brother against brother, and some walked into Valley Forge, leaving bloody footprints in the snow. Cyrus Townsend Brady wrote,   "No spot on earth is so sacred ... in the history of the struggle for human liberty as Valley Forge." Valley Forge represents to all of us, the supreme sacrifices made by all men and women down through time who have sacrificed their all to build, then keep, America, Land of the Free. "Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesties, above the fruited plain! America, America, God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea. Oh, beautiful for heroes proved, in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life! America, America, God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea! God Bless America, and all those, even some of you, who fought to keep her free. We are proud of our heritage and do all we can to honor it down through time. The Brady Family Association is hosting a reunion for anyone who has an ancestor of any surname who lived in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania during the 1700's.  We are having a Revolutionary encampment, etc. We are excited to return home to "Mother Cumberland" in July of 2003 and celebrate our heritage together.