My wife’s uncle Bernie died earlier this week after battling Parkinson’s for several years. He was 88 years old. I learned at his funeral — because it had never come up in conversation before — that he had served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. In their eulogies, his children and grandchildren spoke about how proud Bernie was of having served his country, and how much he loved putting up the American flag at his house.
When we arrived at the cemetery, an honor guard stood at the gravesite, two soldiers saluting his flag-draped casket. A female soldier then stepped a few feet away and played “Taps” on her trumpet while the other remained in salute. Afterwards, they ceremoniously lifted the flag from the casket and folded it with crisp precision. Then the senior soldier knelt before Bernie’s wife of 60 years, Bernice, and said:
“On behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Army, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”
I don’t get emotional very often, but I choked up watching that solemn display of gratitude.
This coming Monday is Memorial Day here in the United States, a federal holiday to honor the men and women who died while serving in the armed forces. Unfortunately, for many people, it has become simply another long weekend: a day to head to the beach, fire up the barbecue, or hunt for holiday sales.
That’s the world we live in these days, for better or worse.
My oldest son, a second lieutenant in the Army Reserves, is coming home today. Well, he doesn’t live here anymore, but as the saying goes, home is where the heart is (and where your childhood bedroom still exists).
I’m going to enlist his help installing a new American flag above our doorway.
We had one years ago, but it became worn and tattered, so I stopped putting it up.
“It’s time,” my wife said to me when she came home with the new flag, to display that star-spangled banner again and watch it wave
o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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Here’s the supply chain and logistics news that caught my attention this week:
- Agreement reached to put EU-US trade on a more stable footing
- Class action suit seeks consumer tariff refunds from Amazon (Chain Store Age)
- Muted peak season expected as ocean shippers delay contract signing (SupplyChain247)
- Four of the World’s Largest Container Manufacturing Companies and Seven of Their Executives Indicted for a Global Conspiracy Affecting Billions of Dollars of Commerce
- Coupa to Acquire Tonkean to Accelerate Agentic Intake and Orchestration for Global Trade
- Locus Robotics Acquires Nexera Robotics, Advancing a Patented Breakthrough in Mobile Manipulation
- Blue Yonder Develops Model Training Factory to Power the Autonomous Supply Chain With NVIDIA
- Blue Yonder and Syndigo Partner to Bring Trusted Product Data to Supply Chain Planning and Execution
- Walmart and Amazon race to win over rural America with speedier deliveries (AP)
- IMO Adopts First-Ever Global Rules for Autonomous Ships (gCaptain)
- Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to Invest $217 Million into Strengthening Trucking Safety Enforcement and Workforce Development
- Trucking Insurance Costs Increased 18.6% Despite Fewer Crashes (SupplyChain247)
- Canada Has ‘Fallen Way Behind’ on Port Logistics, Carney Says (WSJ – sub. req’d)
Since many of you are likely taking today off — and I have a flag to put up — I’ll share my commentary next week.
Have a meaningful weekend!
Song of the Week: “Fallen Heroes” by Adele
