Remembering the fallen, honoring the living

by: vincent solomeno

Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 09:40:50 AM EST

According to the Congressional Research Service, at least 1,009,041 Americans have died in major combat operations since the first shots sounded at Lexington and Concord in 1775.  That number is staggering, especially when one considers the thousands of wounded veterans who returned home, many physically and mentally broken, never to live the life they intended to live.  Indeed, the pain and suffering borne by so many families was and continues to be a festering wound that refuses to heal.  These heroes sacrificed to secure a permanent peace as precious as it is elusive.

Unlike any other arena of human endeavor, soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen put their lives on the line to defend that which we hold dear.  And we, by many measures the most prosperous and free people in the history of humanity, have those warriors to thank for the liberties we continue to enjoy.  Yet, as a country, our thanks is too often half hearted.  1/3 of all homeless Americans, a number equal to 260,000 people, are veterans.  Nearly two mllion veterans lack access to basic medical care.  The greatest thanks we can offer the heroes still among us are the guarantees that they will be cared for in the shadows and twilight of their lives.  Thus far, we have failed to honor that simple but profound commitment.

The nature of military conflict may have changed, but that nobility of service and the selfless devotion to one's country remains.  For the echoes of Breeds Hill can be heard in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan.  The bugle call heard at Antietam still summons heroes to our nation's cause.  These heroes, along with those who fought at Verdun, Normandy, Khe Sanh, and Anbar, did so that their children might live in a world unaware of the horrors of war.  At the dawn of the twenty-first century, as the United States faces security threats from all corners of the world, some may say it was a hope born out of ignorance.  Perhaps, however, it was born from the experience of those who saw the most degrading and base aspects of the human condition.  War is terrible, unjust, and should be avoided at all costs.  Those who wore the uniform at Yorktown knew it then, and those riding convoy duty this very moment know it now.

So today, let us thank our veterans and say a collective prayer that these wars end, expeditiously, and with honor.  In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes,

"Lord, bid war's trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace."