salute

In the United States, today is when we all join together to salute our fallen sailors, soldiers, and airmen for making the ultimate sacrifice to maintain our way of life.  So this Memorial Day, we rest a bit in their honor, and we salute our fellow SA’ers who have served their countries with this 21-gun salute from the oldest commissioned warship in the world.  This is the USS Constitution firing on Boston Harbor as she entered a 3-year restoration that will be complete next year, with thanks to Mass Communication Specialist Airman Nick Lyman.

For sailors all over the world, it’s also a good time to remember how much our pasttime – whether racing or cruising – owes to the seaman, designers, and builders that formed the world’s navies in the days of sail.  Sailing would never have become the sport it has without thousands of years of fighting Chinese, Greek, Persian, Moorish, Spanish, Dutch, French, British, and US sailors – along with those of dozens of other nations – developing many of the tools and concepts that we still use today; going ’round the cans or ’round the world.

So to all the servicemen, and to more than a millenium of sailors – we salute you and offer our heartfelt thanks.