Restaurant manager Kelly Ray put out a sign in front of Mayberry's, a bar and grill in Washington, Kansas, on Memorial Day that read: "We have 619,300 reasons to be closed Monday!"
And while according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the sign is off on the total service members lost, because it only refers to casualties from World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the numbers are sadly still growing, the message it was meant to tell comes through clear.
"People talk about Memorial Day being the start of summer and that sort of thing," Ray told The Wichita Eagle. "But what it's really about is those people who died. I hope people think about them."
"I just love the message," Ray said. "You don't have to like our president or like some of the things our government is doing, but you sure better respect those who have laid down their lives for us to be able to live here."
Brandon Lee, a Mayberry's patron saw the sign and posted it to his Facebook page and by Sunday afternoon the picture had gone viral with 64,000 shares according to The Wichita Eagle. And the shares are still growing —168,188 shares as of Wednesday morning.
