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Health & Fitness

A View From the Deck: Remember Them

In this installment of 'A View From the Deck', local author J. Wiley Dumas shares his Memorial Day Tribute for those that have answered the call and have not returned.

I was honored to be a part of Ellington's Memorial Day Observance yesterday. and even more honored to say a few words in tribute to those Americans that paid the ultimate price for our Freedoms.

Therefore, I would like to share it with each of you, in the hope that we each take time to remember those that have fallen and why:

One hundred and fifty years ago, two armies met on the Field of Battle. For many of them, they would not leave that field. These young men, whose average age was 19, fought, bled, and died for four long years.

Some fought for noble causes. To preserve the Union. To have each state governed in a manner that best represented the needs of the people of that state. To guarantee equality for all men. To preserve the right of freedom of choice.

Others fought for simpler reasons. Duty. Honor. Family.

But all fought for that most basic of reasons. Then, as now, during the heat of battle, these brave young men, whose futures and lives were cut short, fought… FOR THEIR FELLOW SOLDIERS.

Their ‘Brothers in Arms.’

Two armies. Two different causes. But each fought by young men. Young men with families. They were sons. They were fathers. They were brothers.

They were all Americans.

Then, as now, young men answered the call. 650,000 of those brave young men, young men who had hopes and dreams just like any of those today, did not return from that call.

From the time this great nation was in its infancy, young men have left their homes, their families, and taken up arms against oppression, against tyranny, and to defend our nation from its enemies.

The great tragedy of the American Civil War was that the ‘enemy’ was fellow Americans.

We are not here today to discuss the causes of our nation’s most tragic conflict. That is for historians. We are not here to debate the perceived reasons. That is for politicians.

Rather, we are here to pay tribute to those brave young Americans, both Blue and Grey, that paid the ultimate sacrifice, for whatever reason they did so. They, as all of the brave young men, and women, that have answered that noble call before and hence, should never be forgotten. They must be remembered.

These young men that fought one another during the American Civil War should be remembered in a special way, for their noble sacrifice brought about a change that we today take for granted. Prior to this most tragic conflict, our nation regarded itself as a collection of individual states. When referring to our country, one would say “The United States ARE.” Plural. Numerous. A Collection.

Once the conflict ended, and the country began to recover, it was then said that “The United States IS.” One. Unified. Singular.

Two great armies went onto the Field of Battle, and one nation, the greatest nation on earth emerged. The UNITED States of America.

Many try to forget the American Civil War. In some areas of our great nation, its very mention brings about discord and anger. But we, as Americans, should never forget the sacrifice of those young men that laid down their lives, paying the ultimate sacrifice, to unify this country in a way that no president, no congress, and no court could ever do.

Memorial Day is not a time for picnics. It is not a time for sales. It is a time of remembrance. It is a time to pay honor and tribute to those that then, as now, have paid the ultimate sacrifice to insure that our great nation remains one, united, for all time.

Brave, young Americans have paid the ultimate sacrifice during many wars and conflicts. Those include, but are not limited to:

The American War of Revolution

The War of 1812

The Mexican-American War

The Spanish-American War

The Philippine-American War

The Boxer Rebellion

The Mexican Revolution

World War One

World War Two

The Korean War

The Vietnam War

The El Salvador Civil War

The Persian Gulf War

The Iraq War

The Afghanistan War

Brave, young Americans have fallen in countries like:

Haiti

Nicaragua

Lebanon

Grenada

Panama

Somalia

Bosnia

Is it then not fitting, that we, those that they paid the ultimate sacrifice for, set aside one day, a few brief hours, to remember them?

Remember them, for that is the ultimate honor we can pay to those that have answered the call and not returned. Remember them. As simple an act as one can do. Remember why they died. They died for each of us. For our Rights. For our Freedoms. By our Law.

Simonides of Sparta, after the Battle of Thermopylae, wrote in 480 B.C. what to this day remains as the ultimate tribute to those that have sacrificed, so that a nation’s people can enjoy their freedoms.

“Should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be, may all our voices whisper to you from the ageless stones:  

Go, tell the Spartans, passer-by, that here, by Spartan law, we lie.”


Remember them.  

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