The best Memorial Day rememberance I ever heard isn't American. It's a poem, written by Simonides, in honor of the 300 Spartans who fought and died with Leonidas at Thermopylae:
"Go tell the Spartans, passers by
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie"
We honor our fallen, as well we should for it is the duty of the living to honor the dead. Grief is the tribute we pay to the dead. We should also remember the Brits who fell at Dunkirk. The Brits who died at D-Day, Tobruk, and El Alamein. And the ANZACs who gave their lives in both Theatres. The Red Army soldiers who fought the Germans at Stalingrad and Kursk. Oh, yes, them, too. Without all of them, World War Two would have had a different outcome. Let's remember the German, Canadian, British, and French soldiers who fell in Afghanistan along with Americans.
And, this Memorial Day, I also pray for peace on Earth, that all people can one day live as brothers and sisters, that no woman be widowed or no child fatherless (or motherless) by war.
"Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all."
----Nelson Mandela