The mid-term elections are behind us. Families are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and loved ones. But there is one segment of this Nation that will not be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families. These gallant men and women are miles away defending our Nation from evil forces who seek our utter destruction. The armed forces are fighting for freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan and other areas of the world so families can live without fear of those that might do us harm.
Today, we honor all veterans who have aided in the cause of freedom, whether in the days of sunlit peace or in the cold conflict of war. It is imperative we remember all those who have sacrificed for the warm embrace of liberty. Yet, too often our veterans are relegated to second-class citizens, never fully receiving the heroic recognition they aptly deserve.
People desire heroes. Once found heroes are adored and revered. Too often those heroes are praised for their entertainment or athletic prowess.
One hero that deserves our recognition will be awarded the Nation’s highest military decoration – the Medal of Honor, presented by President Obama on November 16th . His name: Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, a 22-year-old rifle team leader. On the night of Oct. 25, 2007, he was serving in Afghanistan’s Korangal Valley when Taliban insurgents attacked his squad. The approaching combatants formed an L-shaped ambush, splitting Giunta’s squad into two groups. Giunta braved enemy fire and pulled a squad member back to cover.
He later saved another soldier while trying to connect with the other half of his squad. He saw two insurgents carrying off the second squad member and recovered him while shooting and killing one enemy fighter, wounding and driving off others.
Let us not forget the words of President John F. Kennedy, who stated, “Our serviceman and women are serving throughout the world as guardians of peace—many of them away from their homes, their friends and their families. They are visible evidence of our determination to meet any threat to the peace with measured strength and high resolve. They are also evidence of a harsh but inescapable truth - that the survival of freedom requires great cost and commitment, and great personnel sacrifice.”
We live in a society where the few are sacrificing for the many. Sadly, people often speak of freedom and say that defending liberty is for someone else’s son, not theirs. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates commented in a speech at Duke University about the lack of ROTC programs at many of most prestigious universities. He said, “Over the past generation many commentators have lamented the absence of ROTC from the Ivy League and other selective universities. Institutions that used to send hundreds of graduates into the armed forces now struggle to commission a handful of officers every year.”
Upon returning from Iraq, an Army Colonel was invited to a cocktail reception on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The son of the host and hostess was interested in military affairs, he suggested that since the United States Military Academy was just up the river from New York City, perhaps he should consider applying. The hostess put her arm around her son and replied, “No, no, no! He has much more important things planned for his life.” She patted the Colonel on the arm and said, “But I’m glad we have people like you to protect us.”
If we are to be one Nation, where in the preamble of the constitution it states, “We the people of the United States”, then all of us must serve together, not just a select group to sacrifice for the many. President Kennedy stated in his famous inaugural address, “My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country".
It’s humbling to know that many veterans have served this nation proudly in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard of this great nation, realizing that freedom is not free, following in the illustrious tradition of previous generations, who sacrificed everything to serve in Americas Armed Forces.
This Veterans Day, let’s take the time and remember all those who serve in the armed forces of this great nation, as well as those who have served the cause of freedom but never came home, who lay oft times unappreciated in battlefields graves across the globe. In the last century their lives have ended in places called Belleau Wood, the Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno, and half way around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Pork Chop Hill, The Chosin Reservoir, and hundreds of rice paddies and jungles in Vietnam.
In our lifetime they have fallen in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, the mountains of Afghanistan; Fallujah, Nasiriyah, Ramadi, and on the streets of Baghdad.
Freedom is too precious a gift not to acknowledge a remembrance to the gallant warriors who served in the Armed Forces of the United States. Let’s honor all who serve. It’s the least we can do!
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