This day is not a time to reflect on our nation’s triumphs. This day is set aside for the solemn observance and reflection on the immeasurable debt that we owe to those who have gone before. Today we honor generations of sacrifice. We honor men and women who loved their country and their countrymen so much that they were willing to give their lives.

At Gettysburg, 142 years ago, Abraham Lincoln famously observed that words are at times inadequate. Those who died in defense of our nation are the silent testimony of honor and devotion. The survivors, our veterans, are the living witnesses of valor. Our words of gratitude and appreciation will most certainly fall short. We cannot adequately reflect on all of the lives that were cut short and the lives that were forever altered by the ravages of war.

The battles are too numerous to consider and the lost lives too great to enumerate. From the American Revolution to the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, The Spanish-American War, The Boxer Rebellion, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, The First Gulf War, Somalia, Kosovo and our present War on Terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq and the countless skirmishes and unnamed military engagements throughout our history – More than 1,000,000 American soldiers gave their lives to secure for us the blessings of liberty and freedom. Millions more risked their lives and survived unspeakable horrors.

Imagine – if Abraham Lincoln did not feel he could give the proper honor at a battlefield cemetery near the middle of the Civil War, how can we now properly honor the many more brave men who have fallen since? Our simple words can never be enough for them nor for the men who fought and lived. They have honored us – we are indebted to them and can never properly acknowledge what they have done.

That is the message that Abraham Lincoln delivered at Gettysburg. We, have a responsibility to dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work. The cause of Liberty and the preservation of this great American experiment is an unending task. Lincoln said, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.”

That is our call to action – that is our solemn duty. We strive to make ourselves worthy inheritors of the nation that so many men and women valiantly fought to secure. Often we wonder if we have lived up to this inheritance of Liberty – if we have we shown ourselves worthy. Do we still have the same love of freedom and will future generations keep that faith? I hope we do – and I hope we always will.

We pray that we will always be worthy of their final sacrifice, and hope that we will always remember the awesome cost of freedom.We must dedicate ourselves to their unfinished work. That is our duty – that is our obligation. Let us continue the fight and preserve this government and our way of life for generations to come.

  

Daily walleye bag limits will increase May 25 on 442 lakes in northern Wisconsin in time for the long Memorial Day weekend as spring spearing winds down by the Wisconsin bands of Chippewa. Anglers should consult the 2013-14 Guide to Wisconsin Hook and Line Fishing Regulations,  signs at boat landings, and the 2013-2014 Revised Ceded Territory Walleye Bag Limits  for lake-specific information.

The adjustments follow Gov. Scott Walker’s announcement this week of the Wisconsin Walleye Initiative  to make available significant funding for use by state, tribal, and private fish hatcheries to produce more walleye for Wisconsin’s lakes.

Anglers’ daily bag limit for walleye will increase to five per day on 288 lakes, to four per day on three lakes, and to three walleye per day on 131 lakes, according to Joe Hennessy, who coordinates the treaty fisheries management program for the Department of Natural Resources. All of the bag limit increases reflect actual spear harvest through May 22. Of the 108 lakes with bag limits less than three, 101 lakes will have a bag limit of two walleye per day and seven lakes will have an bag limit of one walleye per day.