Memorial Day 2011:
Honoring Those Who Gave All
While many Americans have the benefit of a three-day weekend and plan to share it with family and friends, please spend at least a few minutes of this Memorial Day for its intended purpose: Honoring those Americans who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation.
The term veteran was once defined by a West Point chaplain as “someone who, at some point in his life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America, for any amount up to and including his life.” Those who join the armed forces, especially those who join during wartime, are under few illusions as to what their commitment may require of them.
Whether they were drafted during wars now past, or volunteered out of patriotism, tradition, for the promise of a higher education, or because of difficult employment opportunities, these men and women, sometimes barely more than kids, left the comfort of their homes and families and went across the world and onto the battlefield, into the skies and deployed on ships of war. They likely shared the same fears as most other people would, of the known and the unknown. But unlike most others, they continued onward into harm's way.
As a veteran, I am in awe, grateful and humbled by the service of these heroes. They fought, and sacrificed all, not for honor nor glory, but for those they left behind, for those who fought alongside them, and for the memory of those who had fought for America in battles years before.
Think of the sacrifice made by Lance Corporal José Antonio Gutierrez, who in 2003 was one of the first casualties of the Iraq War. A “green card” Marine, he had immigrated to the United States for a better life, and joined the service to prove his loyalty to his new country. He was granted citizenship posthumously, but as far as I'm concerned, he was an American from the moment he volunteered to wear the uniform and fight for our nation.
And that of Army Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller, whose heroism saved the lives of seven members of his team and 15 Afghan National Army soldiers, at the cost of his own. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his actions. His legacy, and those of the other seven Medal of Honor Recipients from Iraq and Afghanistan, is that of courage, and of devotion and commitment to his country and his brothers-in-arms.
These are but two of the more than 6,000 U.S. troops who have died in our present conflicts (4,442 in Iraq, 1,571 in Afghanistan). This Memorial Day, as we honor them, and those who sacrificed in previous wars, keep dear to your hearts the knowledge that they died not from greed or zealotry, but with selflessness.
And if you spend time with family and friends this weekend, or if you see the Flag of the United States of America at half-mast, think of these brave souls, and remember them and their families in your hearts and prayers.
Isaac M. O'Bannon
President,
Oklahoma Democratic Party
Veterans Committee