Memories of My Own on Memorial Day

[Geee]

American Thinker:

Today, only a small number of Americans have known anyone personally who died fighting for our country, but I have. My war was the Vietnam War, and I was a Vietnam wife, so I knew quite a few.

My husband at the time did not die in Vietnam, although he certainly was keenly aware of the dangers ahead of him when he accepted his NROTC scholarship. After he benefited from the Navy's largesse that put him through four years at Dartmouth College, he was obliged to return to the Navy the four years that they'd invested to send him there. Very soon after graduation, our marriage, and officer's training school, he was sent to Vietnam. He fought there as a Marine Corps captain and as a tank platoon commander for the requisite 13 months. Seeing a lot of action and unconscious for one whole Christmas, he was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star and then came home. There were many times afterwards that his tortured nightmares jolted us awake in the middle of the night and I thought at the time that he was dying too, a thousand little deaths, one at a time. While I thank God he survived, our marriage, regrettably, could not.

We speak of a military death as a sacrifice given to preserve our brilliant and beloved country and our very privileged and peaceful way of life. We envision these deaths where they most often occur - on the battlefield, as our children and neighbors and husbands are transformed into fallen heroes who fall under enemy fire and die heroically in an effort to defeat America's enemies. But there are other deaths too, not so heroic but even more tragic and sacrificial, that occur in every war and their toll needs to be counted in the measure of whether war is worth the sacrifice we all make.

A few such deaths stand out particularly for me and I always remember their haunting images when Memorial Day rolls around. I hesitate to discuss them on this page, as today should be a day to call forth the best feelings and courage in us all, especially in an effort to sustain us through another generation's war which we simply must see through to its successful end. But it isn't authentic to remember only those who died as John Wayne would have died; we must remember them all. So I now ask us to remember those Americans who have died so their country may live, though their sacrifices often go unnoticed.

One such soldier, and an old friend, suffered from a prolonged struggle with post traumatic stress syndrome following Vietnam and died by his own hand years later in front of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Right before he committed this act, he shot and killed his wife in front of their children. Theirs was a brutal and stunning sacrifice of which many outside the military do not take notice. But it was a tragic American family sacrifice nonetheless and they must surely both be counted, as well as their children, as among the nearly 1.3 million casualties of our wars dating back to, and including, the Civil War. There are more of these kinds of deaths, both physical and spiritual, than we would like to acknowledge. But these casualties need to be honored as all the others are honored, too. They have all made the ultimate sacrifice, whether willing or not, so that we may not have to.

[Geee]

A Day to Remember Our Fallen

On Memorial Day, many Americans have a barbeque, spend the day in a department store looking for sales, or otherwise enjoy a day off work. What often does not happen is a reflection on the true meaning of the holiday.

Memorial Day is intended to be a day of remembrance for those who have died serving this great nation during war. In December 2000, the National Day of Remembrance was founded to help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning and tradition of Memorial Day, by asking that at 3 pm local time, a moment of remembrance and respect be observed with a moment of silence. American Thinker interviewed a few Americans who have contributed to the War on Terror, asking them to reflect on this holiday.

Debbie Lee's son, Marc Alan, was the first SEAL killed in Iraq. She regarded herself as one of those Americans who did not connect Memorial Day with its true meaning until August 2, 2006, when her son was killed. She commented that today, many Americans mark this holiday as a signal for the end of the school year, but her wish is that "everyone understand [that] the families of those killed have given our best and brightest for this nation. This is supposed to be the day we remember our fallen soldiers. For me, every day is a Memorial Day." She suggests that Americans have someone in the family take the time to talk about the true meaning of this holiday.

Marc died after standing up in the direct line of fire to save his buddies -- not during one mission, but three. The first and second times, he escaped injury while heroically drawing direct fire as his buddy, Ryan, was taken off a rooftop, severely injured. Later that same day, he and his team went back out to find thirty insurgents. While going into a house, Marc made a choice to give his life as his teammates found cover. Because of Marc, Debbie established the organization America's Mighty Warriors, which supports military families of fallen soldiers.

Chris Kyle, a retired SEAL, takes his family to a national cemetery, where he reads the headstones and lays down roses. He always chooses someone whom he had a connection with because "I would not have been able to write the book American Sniper and play in the house with my children if not for them. The red in the flag is for their blood. We all should be reminded that freedom is not free and these fallen soldiers have paid the ultimate price."

Kyle thinks about his SEAL teammate Ryan Job, who was shot in the right eye by an Iraqi sniper in 2006. He considers Ryan a true hero who did not want to be taken to safety until the mission was accomplished. However, after losing a great amount of blood, he passed out and had to be carried to safety. Because of all the shrapnel and swelling, his optic nerve was severed, and he became blind in both eyes. He lived for three more years, married his sweetheart, and graduated from college with a 4.0 grade average. After undergoing surgery to repair his eye socket, Ryan died from complications. Although he did not die in combat, as far as Kyle is concerned, Ryan "still died from the injury he received in combat. Ryan is proof that all who sign up to fight for this country do it because we love this country. We will honor it, serve it, and write a blank check for it up to our life to guarantee everyone's freedom back home."

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/a_day_to_remember_our_fallen.html