By Allen Hamrick
Woodrow Wilson said it best…”Right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things we hold near and dear to our hearts, for rights and liberties and for a voice in our governments.”
Every war the United States has been involved in, from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan, has stories so horrific that there could be no possible way to make someone understand the sacrifice of someone who has served this country – actual accounts where our soldiers were out on the field of battle guarding our rights to live free and dying because of it. No matter what, they did their duty, and their duty was above all consequence. They persevered through adversity, commanded to neither look left or right, but straight forward.
It was in their heart and their will where their honor was kept, honor that made them move forward. They didn’t rely on their arms and legs but on their courage and their soul because when their arms and legs failed them they fought on their knees. No one down through history wanted to go to war, and, at times, the wars seemed senseless. However, when the people of this country were called upon, they reacted.
Can you begin to fathom just how it felt on a troop carrier on D-Day when, as soon as the door opened, a thousand bullets flew through your friends, killing everyone around you? Did they falter when the ocean ran red with the blood of Americans? No, they didn’t run, they fought on for the future of America.
How might you have felt at Pork Chop Hill in Korea or Hamburger Hill in Vietnam where men were cut to pieces and for what? For the thrill of it? For the glory of it? No, they did it because they were asked to do it, because they were Americans. They did it for you, for me and for America’s future.
Today, men and women fight on because they are asked to do it, and they are still dying for it. When a hero comes home, dead or alive, we don’t tell them it was just a police action and we shouldn’t have been there! We pat them on the back and tell them thanks for their effort, that our nation is proud of them and their sacrifice.
No matter what the reason, soldiers of these United States have stepped up for the rights and freedoms of the people of this country; let us not forget that. When they want to tell their story, don’t yawn and wish you were somewhere else. Listen, because they are why you have the opportunities you have to buy, sell, travel, own, do. When you see an old vet or a young one, remember that they have probably went through some kind of diversity far beyond what you can imagine and thank them. We owe it to those who forged this country to remember, else their efforts were in vain.
