It has often been said, “Freedom is not free, it has been paid for by the blood of our young men and women in uniform.” Since 1776 over 48 million have worn the uniform of the United States Military and fought valiantly for freedom and liberty around the globe. Of that number, nearly two million never returned home to their loved ones.

One day a year, America sets aside a day of Remembrance for those that never returned, those that paid the ultimate sacrifice for not only our freedom, but the freedoms of the oppressed in foreign lands as well.

Currently over 4,000 of our Brothers and Sisters who stood up for freedom in the Middle East will never return home to the hugs of families. They will become a painful memory for those that loved them and forgotten by the nations they fought to keep free, except for the recognition of a small American Flag placed on their graves this Monday morning, May 26.

America did not always have a Memorial Day. After our Civil War in the 19th Century, a day was set aside to commemorate only the Union Soldiers who lost their lives, called Decoration Day.

After fighting ceased from World War One, “The Great War,” the day was changed to include all of America’s Military Deaths from all wars.

When I was a child in the 1950’s, Memorial Day was a big event. Parades were held, aging Veterans gallantly strode down the Boulevard through the middle of town, Marching Bands played marching tunes of John Phillip Souza, and townspeople turned out to line both sides of the Boulevard to pay respects to those who served and especially to those who never came home.

Businesses closed and groups broke off into picnics organized by various Veterans Organizations. Speeches were made at Monuments to crowds gathering to pay homage, while silent personal moments were seen in all of the Town Cemeteries where the remains of our Lost Soldiers were laid to rest.

Many of the commemorations included former enemies who immigrated to America after the wars, some choosing to remain after being released from various Prisoner of War camps around the country. They too saw the freedom and liberty America was blessed with and came to embrace what all too many today just take for granted.

Families mourn for their loved ones lost to war. Most others just take the three-day weekend without giving a thought to why we have the day, as Memorial Day has come to lose much of its significance since the anti-war left was given the voice they raised during the Viet Nam era.

To this small but loud faction of Americans, Veterans that sacrificed their lives deserved to die. Instead to paying homage to the buried, they would spit on their graves, if not physically, then emotionally by slandering the memory of those who died or desecrating Memorials to them. They called them “murderers,” “rapists,” “cold blooded killers” and such, never giving a thought that it is the sacrifice of those Brave Young people that grants them the freedom to act as they do.

Misdeeds of a very small number are exaggerated and applied to all, wrongfully. Where as a child I was taught to respect and honor those that served, many today teach their children to fear and loath them.

Many from other countries read the exaggerated accounts from our own newspapers and believe the hyperbole. Our enemies are emboldened and more lives are lost as the oppressed that looked to America for help in gaining their own freedom come to distrust us.

Our politicians clamor for abandonment of the cause before those peoples are freed completely or ready to face their enemies alone. As in Viet Nam, all support was denied to the struggling country and the Communist North was steadily strengthened and resupplied by Communist Nations all too willing to see more people fall under their oppressive ways.

America turned its back not only on living Veterans, but on our War Dead as well, labeling them “losers” for not winning a war they did not want won in the first place. Allies come to be wary of America, not knowing when they too would be abandoned.

But still, America’s youth come forth when needed. They come down from the mountains. They come from the cities of the North and the Bayous of the South. They leave the beaches of California and Florida. North, South, East and West, they leave the comfort of their homes and loved ones to volunteer for Americas Military. Young and older, Black, White, Brown, Red and Yellow skinned, male, and female, they come with no desire of praise or large salaries, but only a desire only to see America remain the freest nation on the planet and to see others share in the freedoms that we do.

All too many won’t return, sacrificing their all wherever they may be sent. This Monday, May 26, will be their Memorial Day. This will be the day America should be saying “thank you” to those brave souls who joined so many others in giving their life so others may remain free.

General George S. Patton is credited with once saying, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”

General Norman Schwarzkopf once said, “It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.”

In 2003, General Colin Powell said to the Archbishop of Canterbury, “We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in.”

Our Holy Bible says at John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Won’t you join me in taking just a few moments out of your barbecues, your shopping trips or watching TV just to reflect on what so few of our citizens have sacrificed in order that so many may remain free?

(Photos by Victoria Taft, KPAM 860 AM Portland, Oregon)