Randy Smith: Honoring The Fallen

  • Friday, May 26, 2017
Randy Smith
Randy Smith
Memorial Day means many different things to many different people. It's a great weekend to buy furniture or cars as every dealer has huge markdowns just in time for the holiday. It's a great time to watch baseball, which is something I will do a lot this weekend. And, when I'm not watching baseball, I'll be hanging out with my family around the pool, smoking meat and freezing ice cream as we entertain the many people who will come to our home. Others will spend the weekend on the lake or traveling to some large body of water somewhere to relax and enjoy their long weekend.

It's okay to do those things as long as you remember the real reason for Memorial Day.
It's to honor the men and women who have died fighting for and protecting our country. It's not to honor those who have served in the military, that's for Veterans Day. This holiday is one that should be reserved for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice that allows you, me and everyone else to be able to go to the lake, cook hamburgers and hot dogs, and watch baseball without fear. 

Things have changed in our country and our world. There are thousands of cowardly terrorists like the one who blew himself up and took 22 souls with him in Manchester, England this week. He took young people.....children and teenagers all in the name of a God who represents love and peace....an evil and radical coward who had no appreciation nor respect for life or the right to live. He and others like him are what our servicemen and women and fighting to protect us from today.

Years ago our men and women fought and died to protect us from foreign aggression; heartless and soulless dictators who craved ultimate power and would do anything they could to get it. I've written before about my uncle, David Smith, who died in France in 1944. His ultimate sacrifice came when he fell on a live hand grenade, sparing maybe hundreds of American lives from the blast that took his life.  As he lay dying, his company moved out, leaving him there in the care of French farmers. Tears streamed down the faces of his buddies as they marched past him on their way to their next location. He was a true hero. A man who had just seconds to decide what to do when he saw the pen fall out of the grenade. The decision he made cost him his life but saved so many others. 

Remember Uncle David this weekend as well as the five servicemen who were killed in Chattanooga almost two years ago by an evil terrorist. Also remember the 6,828 Americans killed in Afghanistan since 2001, or the 58,220 members of the military that were killed in Viet Nam. Say a prayer for them and also pray for the thousands of servicemen and servicewomen who are in harm's way today around the world. Thank God for them all.

Enjoy your burgers and ice cream, and have fun at the pool or at the lake. Just remember who paid the price to make it possible.  

 

* * *

Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer.  His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for 30 years. He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga television for more than a quarter-century. In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith. They have five grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, Mattingly, DellaMae, and CoraLee.

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