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On Memorial Day, we recognize and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and our freedom. Solemn ceremonies pay tribute to men and women who remain forever young in service to their country. It is sobering to think of the thousands whose names we may not know giving the "last full measure of devotion" for millions of others they would never meet. Sacrifice. Our history has no shortage. Its true definition can be ascertained by reflecting on every American conflict from the Revolution to present-day military involvement.
Our traditions link the past to the present. They prevent the fading of history. They allow us the opportunity to educate and pass along the vital elements that make our country a strong beacon of freedom. Educating younger generations is the only hope to avoid having those we honor dying in vain.
Years ago, while watching a TV documentary on World War II, one veteran recounted the day he was a guest speaker at a high school. He was introduced as a veteran of World War Eleven. An honest but revealing mistake. As time passes, history becomes shrouded in fog to younger generations.
It has been nearly 80 years since the end of World War II. The number of surviving veterans from the war is rapidly dwindling. Who remains to tell their story? The same could be said for all previous wars and those that followed, including Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, the ongoing Global War on Terror and all other conflicts.
How do we keep the stories of so many heroes alive? The educational system is certainly one answer. But there are roadblocks. Bob Lauver, a Vietnam Veteran and president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 791, offers an explanation.
"I, and other veterans I know, have talked to students at the elementary, middle, high school, and post high school levels," Lauver said. "We find them interested in our experiences and our interpretations of history as we lived it. I think it is more telling that educators have asked me to talk to students only to have the sessions refused by administrators. So much of our emphasis today is on the wrongs of history, attempts to rewrite our history, and tearing down historical figures because they may have been on the wrong side of the present societal norms. Philosopher George Santayana said, "Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." The younger generations must learn that their lives they live today were created by sacrifices of so many.
Lauver thinks the transmission of history must also reach beyond a formal class.
"The stories must be related by the veterans, their peers, siblings and everyone they have told them to," he said. "The stories of veterans are personal. and they think that others may not have interest in them, but these tales are living, visceral, history. [We must] "Continue to interview and record the stories in the veteran's own words. Encourage the veterans to talk of their experiences, even though they think it was no big deal. No matter what their job was or where they were, any individual who was in an area of conflict looked at and experienced things that those who were not there cannot comprehend."
We must never forget those who died for our country. We must continue to educate current and future generations of the sacrifices made to attain and preserve freedom.
To quote President Ronald Reagan: "And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.
Our first obligation to them and ourselves is plain enough: the United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we -- in a less final, less heroic way -- be willing to give of ourselves."
God Bless America.
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Tom Laub is the Lifestyles Editor of The Sentinel.