Memorial Day 2011

Memorial Day is a day dedicated to remembering those who died in service to our country.

While every war has its opponents: people who don’t believe in the cause, don’t believe the US should be involved in a particular place, or people who are opposed to any war in principle. Those opponents must not ignore the sacrifice made for us by those who served and died. The very freedom that allows people to protest and to burn the American flag if they so choose was won by those who fought and died in defense of that freedom. Nor should we forget those who fought and are still living.

Having been an Air Force wife during Viet Nam, I knew some of those young men and women who gave their lives or returned home damaged in mind or body. I won’t say that I support one war or oppose another. My feelings about the current conflicts in the world are of no importance. What is important is that we salute our service men and women, those who have died, and those who were willing to die, who strive to ensure that we do have the freedom to worship as we choose, to vote as we choose, to protest as we choose.

We have a moral obligation to take care of those whose minds and bodies were broken by going to war in our defense. While parents and loved ones mourn the death of their fallen warriors, those warriors may be the lucky ones, their suffering is over. What are we as a country doing for those who have returned to us wishing they had died, preferring death to the hell in which they are currently living. Every day, in every large city and a few smaller ones, we see those wounded warriors living in poverty, despised as the dregs of humanity.

We are not the first country to abandon those to whom we owe so much. Rome did as much to their returning warriors after the campaign against Hannibal. England was as bad or worse in their treatment of returning soldiers after the Napoleonic Wars. Are we destined to repeat the sins of the past? Can we not learn from the mistakes of others.

I won't pretend to know the answers. I don't know exactly what it is we should do to correct this outrageous wrong. But we should do something. We have a bi-lateral Congress of the USA, senators and representatives who should make it their priority to find a solution for these issues.

So if I can urge you to take one step, as a free member of a free democratic society, contact your congress person and your senator, and urge them to address this shame that confronts America, protest any decisions to reduce funds dedicated to helping our wounded warriors. We have survivors of many wars in our midst, survivors of World War II, of the Korean conflict, of Viet Nam, of Desert Storm, of Afghanistan and of Iraq.

Ask yourself, while you are thinking of your loved ones who surrendered their lives for our country, what are we doing for those who are dying a slower and more painful death because they are abandoned by the very country for which they gave their best.

Live long and prosper