Would one of you step forward and then take over an ailing patriot's veteran tribute website?

Selfless service and personal courage are two Army values that have been exemplified by patriots in story after story throughout the military history of this great nation. A familiar but often forsaken occurrence, especially familiar in conflicts such as the American Civil War and before, is that of the standard bearer. No matter the side, the soldier who carried the colors into battle was certainly selfless and courageous. When this person was wounded or felled in battle other soldiers would race to the flag in order to lift it up before it hit the ground, or to pick it up off of the ground.

These brave and fearless men slung or even dropped their weapons in order to pick up the flag and then carry on, further mystifying their motivation. Defenseless men carried their cause’s flag without care for their own safety and survival.

Today there are fading stories from the dwindling numbers of WWII veterans, some on blogs, some on individual privately run websites. There are stories and tributes to family members who served in many of the wars and armed conflicts we have participated in since the American Revolution. One such website is TY4Freedom.com hosted by my friend Linda (“Lin”) (@MilliePeko on Twitter).

Linda has carefully maintained this tribute website for over ten years. She is the child of a brave service member who, like all in the military, wrote a blank check for everything up to and including his life so that his family, loved ones and countrymen could live in freedom and liberty.

Linda recently told me, “I have always felt a closeness and respect towards Veterans.
My Dad was in the navy at age 17, and fought on Iwo Jima with the Marines. He turned 18 on that terrible island. Oh, my gosh, what stories he told me, eventually. When he died in 2006, just before Christmas, I decided to teach myself (poorly) to make images and build a website in his memory. My uncle, who recently passed away, was in the Korean War, and my husband was in Vietnam.

“I got on Twitter after creating the website and found some Veterans, but many refused to send a picture, or to say whatever they chose, and I believe they have every right to their opinions.

“No one helped me, as you can tell by my website coding. I wanted the website just for Veterans. I think my family helped me to learn respect for those fighting and sacrificing so much.

“I became ill 21 years ago, and it took 10 years to find out I had Multiple Sclerosis. Now I am not well at all, and I want Veterans as caretakers of the website because I feel they will respect it and care for the men and women who protect, and have protected the USA.

“The only requirement is that there needs to be a Veteran who can perform, in the cPanel/WHM, Paper Lantern. They could also use informational help about other Veterans. I have added information on the homepage as I could, but would like more items, like book information from veterans who are also authors, or performers, et cetera. I have not been able to afford to advertise other than on free sites and on Twitter, so not many people know about the website. I do have one ad per page, and at the beginning of 2018, I will have approximately $70. I cannot cash out until I reach $100 which I need medically, and then I would turn the entire website including ads over to others.

“I simply want people to remember all Veterans and to take their children to the website to learn.

“My love for the website is due to Veterans. I want them ALL remembered.”

Ladies and gentlemen, Linda has carried the flag for a long time. Her courageous and selfless service has bestowed great credit upon her, her family and her country, meaning all of us. She has performed above and beyond expectations. It’s time for another soldier to step forward and then carry the flag into battle.

If you are interested in selfless service, and have enough personal courage, maybe you would like to discuss with Linda the possibility of taking over the website!

If you’re interested, please follow and then DM Linda on Twitter.