Simultaneously, in France and England, our allies were burying their own unknown soldiers at the Arc de Triomphe and Westminster Abbey,
respectively. The three tombs came to represent the struggle for world peace and the high price it commands in human lives. In the 1930s, war revisited Europe and, once again, the United States entered the fray. Sixteen and
one-half million Americans answered the call to arms and the blood of our husbands, fathers, sons and brothers ran like water from the coral atolls of the Pacific to the forests of Germany. Four hundred and seven thousand Americans
lost their lives defending world freedom in World War II, nearly three-quarters of them dying in battle.
Then followed the Korean War, a frozen hell that would render immortal places with names like Chosin and Inchon. That
conflict was barely laid to rest when Vietnam became a decade-long struggle, robbing thousands of our fellow countrymen of their lives in the rice paddies of Southeast Asia.
Through all our wars, through all our
trials, through all times good or bad, our nation's military has been there as witness and protector. Since the earliest days of our history when bedraggled and poorly outfitted farmers and tradesmen followed men like George
Washington, to the National Guardsmen who today stand watch in icy, far-away Bosnia, the men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces have placed their country first, before all personal considerations.
They've
landed on beaches of islands more coral than dirt, trudged through jungles with wet boots, shivered in foxholes, ministered to the wounded, driven the tanks, cleaned the weapons, cooked the hot meals and bagged their dead on
the battlefields. They've forded rivers in boats that barely float, crossed oceans hundreds of feet below the surface, skimmed the Pacific in ships the size of small cities, flown in skies black with night and enemy aircraft and
walked their watches as lonely guardians of the peace.
They're the young Marines who pass us on the highway. They're the old men who finish out their days in rest homes. They're our neighbors, our friends and our family
members, active duty and retired military, veterans all -- the single most important component in the mix that protects the freedoms we daily enjoy.
We are blessed to count these men and women as members of our community,
for each day of military service they gave is a gift to us all. Two years or thirty, the time they spent in our nation's armed forces has strengthened the fabric of our country and its citizens should be profoundly grateful. This
year, please let them know how appreciated they are by honoring them, as our ancestors intended, on the 11th day of the 11th month.
