When I first became a part of the Veteran's Administration network after receiving service connected injuries that encouraged a medical discharge from military service during the 80s, I had the opportunity when I had to go into the VA Medical Center in La Jolla, California to speak with a number of World War II Veterans. My injuries created a situation where I was in the VA medical offices at least once every three months, and as every veteran knows who frequents the larger VA facilities, when you have an appointment there, it's an all-day affair.
While I was waiting, the conversations with these members of the greatest generation were amazing. I heard harrowing tale after harrowing tale of confrontations with the Germans and the Japanese. Vicious air battles, bloody ground battles, and bombings of restaurants while G.I.s rested in front of a relaxing meal in what they thought would be a safe place to eat in France. And when I wasn't talking to WWII vets, Korea Vets, and Vietnam Vets were also eager to discuss their time in the military with a younger version of themselves. They did most of the talking. As far as I was concerned, my military experiences were hardly very compelling compared to the stories I was hearing from these heroes.
One veteran told me about the tales his grandfather had told him about his time in the War Between the States, and others forwarded stories from their fathers and grandfathers that included World War I, and the Spanish-American War. All of these tales were laced with honor and heroism, and the stories of those that lost their lives during the fight. I was told of men who were willing to lay down their lives for the freedoms of others that they had never met, and did so on a battlefield far from their home, and the land they love. These fallen heroes selflessly fought against the tyranny of their era, and their lives lived on in the memories of those at the VA center that were telling the tales of their fallen comrades.
On Memorial Day, I remember these fine men that told me those tales, and the fallen military heroes they fought with that the told me about in their stories. Almost all of those men I spoke to back then, I am sure, have passed on to the next place since our conversations danced through the lobbies and corridors of the VA facility back in the late 80s and early 90s. Their faces, their tales, and their memories of their fallen brothers in arms live on in the memories of folks like myself who have heard those stories, and retell them now and then to our friends and family.
Let us not, also, forget the veterans that carried the promise of liberty prior to those we've spoken to. ..the military personnel that fought before the War Between the States, going all the way back to the veterans of the Revolutionary War. Each and every one of them were willing to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to secure the Blessings of Liberty to themselves, and to those that were not yet born. They fought against determined enemies to protect the union of States, and the concepts the United States of America was founded upon. These courageous warriors did all of this without as much as a second thought. "Freedom is not free" is something they understood, and did not take for granted. Eternal vigilance is required to maintain freedom. Complacency, even in the military regarding the fight to protect liberty, is a dangerous thing, and can be destructive to a society that allows it to creep in.
My Grandfather fought in World War II, my dad and my uncle were in Vietnam, and I have a whole slew of friends and shipmates from all of the branches of the military that participated in some kind of conflict in the Middle East. And all of them have someone they knew that died in the theater of war they served in. Each of those fallen Americans are to be remembered on Memorial Day, for it was their sacrifice that enables us to continue to maintain a society that, for example, provides the freedom for me to write this article. It is their willingness to put their lives on the line that we are forever grateful for, and I only hope they found their peace in the Arms of the Lord after it was all over for them.
In short, "Thank you."
God Bless America, and those who have fought and died to ensure our freedom continues. But we must remember, complacency is a killer of liberty. Eternal vigilance is necessary. The bloody battles to protect freedom will never end, as long as there are those that are determined to destroy liberty, and there are those that are determined to protect it.
",,,can history produce an instance of a rebellion so honourably conducted? I say nothing of it's motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. The people can not be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13 states independant 11 years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half for each state. What country ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure. Our Convention has been too much impressed by the insurrection of Massachusets: and in the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the hen yard in order. I hope in god this article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted." - Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, Paris, 13 Nov. 1787
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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