Memorial Day

Memorial Day       

Today, May 30, 2011, is a day set aside to reflect and remember the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation of ours.  These men and women did not set out to do so, but through their courage we enjoy the freedom to live as Americans, bicker about our political differences, and protest whatever cause we feel needs to be defended or abolished.

So who were these hero’s?  Simple farmers who abandoned their plows for a year to serve with Washington and perhaps die at Valley Forge.  We should not forget the women who portrayed themselves as men so they too might serve the nation during the revolution serving with honor and courage.

Long silent now are Lee, Grant, and all the others from West Point, who served with General Winfield Scott during the war with Mexico in 1846.  Proving to the nation that a military school along the Hudson River could provide the future leaders of an American Army.

The great civil war took a generation from this country, but even today it shapes the dialogue of our nation.  In this struggle the nation fought itself for a variety of ideals, from the rights of the states to control the nation to the rights of all men to be free from slavery.  The men of the 54^th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers lost two thirds of its officers and men in the assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina.

The expansion westward in pursuit of our manifest destiny came at a steep price both for us, and the nations of the Indians we conquered.  The very same people who when the United States called for their help in World War II provided the most effective code encryption device known to that time.  The Navajo code talkers (http://www.navajocodetalkers.org/) as part of the USMC island campaign in the Pacific were never broken by the Japanese or in any way compromised despite the racism of the day.

The ride up San Juan Hill made Theodore Roosevelt famous but clearly the battle was carried on the backs of the men 10^th Cavalry Division the “Buffalo Soldiers” a segregated black unit in the Regular Army.

With the First World War, Americans learned to fight in the Air.  Eddie Rickenbacker was America’s leading ace, but he followed in the footsteps of Raoul Lufbery, Kiffin Rockwell, Bill Thaw and others who fought and died with the French in the Lafayette Escadrille.

From Pearl Harbor to the surrender on the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945 the over 16 million American men and woman served this nation during the war.  Is it any wonder Tom Brokaw named them the “Greatest Generation?”  Sadly the inevitability of death is now overtaking them as even the youngest reaches his or her 80’s.

Korea and Vietnam unfortunately have their share of nameless hero’s who went forth when a nation asked and laid down their lives for their friends.

From Desert One, Urgent Fury, Just Cause, Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, the list goes on and on.  It is hard to believe we have been at war for almost ten years now, with no end in sight.

Today we add to the list daily, it is a sad testament to the world we share that next year there will be more men and woman to remember.