Secretary of Defense, has it right at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier when he said; “throughout history civilizations have honored the powerful, well connected and the well born. The Emperor’s, Kings have built magnificent shrines to their own Royal greatness. Yet in America with our great experiment in self-government; it is fitting that the most honored and most closely guarded tomb in the land, is that of an anonymousness soldier, of an unknown rank. It is a uniquely American Tradition that we honor anonymous sacrifice over worldly greatness.”
Today, Memorial Day is about those Headstones, the ones who did not make it back in the wire alive, Veterans Day is about the ones who made it back alive, Some of those headstones, these are the ones who lied about their age, to go fight overseas, and storm the Beaches of Normandy facing certain death. You have farmers on Christmas Eve crossing the Delaware to kill people who did not want us to the freedoms we have today. Some were drafted out of a family business, with a newborn baby at home. Sitting halfway around the world in a rice paddy, just to be killed, maybe, the body in never recovered. This is their Day. We have Operation Redwing, where all but one member of Seal Team 10, Echo Platoon all lost. They all knew this could be the result, they did it anyway with selfless sacrifice. They died so we could have our freedom. They gave it all up, to be a part of the machine that the rest of the world fears. I was afforded the privilege to stand on the shoulders of these Giants, those men who passed away before me. When a married person serves, the whole family serves. When the spouse passes away, kids, they lose their mom or dad, wife, or husband, they lose her husband, or a wife, parents, they lose a son or a daughter. So, Memorial Day is about them, those who paid the Ultimate Sacrifice, with their lives, for you and me.
Walter E Kitter 