My mother used to carry a prayer card with a faded picture in her prayer book for years. As a child, I remember being at Mass every Sunday with my mother and flipping through her book and always coming across the same prayer card with the faded picture.

One day my mother shared the story with me. This was her Uncle (my great-Uncle). His name was Delfo Marini.

He was young, handsome and newly married with a newborn baby when he signed up to defend our country. Many men (including his brother, my grandfather) were sent overseas to fight in this Great War.

My mother was a small child and remembered vividly, even decades later, the day her grandmother received visitors at the door to inform her that her son was deceased. Killed in action. My mother remembered the screams and tears of her grandmother and the tears of family members gathering at the house.

Today is the day to honor all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the defense of our beloved country – including my Uncle Delfo.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)