I was reading an article in the Washington Post today that remarked on the way that citizens of our nation have apparently minimized the recognition they give our fallen heroes on this day. Not to say that we aren't appreciative of the sacrifices that have been made for the sake of our liberties, but we don't seem to display it the way we used to.
Some of my treasured memories were listening to the tales of honor and courage that were told to me by veterans of some of our nation's conflicts. I remember listening to a former WWII B-17 tailgunner tell me about his friends who fell out of the sky over Germany. I remember catching a rare snippet muttered by a marine who served in Korea. Listening to my barber tell me about some of his friends that were lost in combat. I remember some of my own colleagues telling me about the trials they pushed through in the Bakaara Market. One in particular told me about the way his gut dropped when he heard his friends Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart volunteer to protect Mike Durant. He knew he'd never see them alive again. I suppose that I have a few stories of my own to tell now. The HMMWV crew who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and lost their lives to a carbomb. Or the sergeant who just couldn't take it anymore and took matters into his own hands (perhaps even more unfortunate that what we would typically consider a casualty of war).
It seems, in this new age of low-casualty, virtual warfare filled with drones, smart-bombs, long range artillery, cruise missiles, and advanced fighter-bombers, that we become detached from the reality that is war. We ignore the casualties of our current conflicts. We seek to ignore the grim nature of the war in which we are engaged and call it a "contingency operation". Death tolls are counted on a news-network tv screen and used as political fodder instead of given the respect that these fallen heroes deserve.
In Bagram, Afghanistan (and I would presume Iraq), soldiers stand and salute every fallen soldier that is carried by on his final journey home. The silence at these ceremonies is deafening. You can see in the faces of those young men and women the respect they have for that fallen comrade. The knowledge that that could be them. The courage of understanding that they accept that danger knowingly.
I hope that we will all take a moment this Memorial Day to conduct our own fallen soldier ceremony. Please visit the grave of a fallen veteran. Go to a memorial service. Put a flag up in your yard. At least take a moment to remember those who died making our way of life possible.
Perhaps, if we at least remember the sacrifices made for us by these, we won't squander the inheritance they have left us.
1 comment:
Thanks for this post, Riley. I hope you have recorded your experiences in Afghanistan for your kids and their kids to read. You and I both know how rare it is to hear Grandpa talk about Korea, and I think it's sad that part of his history will never really be known by anyone else.
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