Another Memorial Day tribute

     On Memorial Day, I will once again be privileged to speak at the Holyoke Cemetery. I always look forward to returning to Holyoke and seeing my sister and her family, as well as old friends. Furthermore, I consider it an honor to be able to offer a few remarks about our armed forces and the sanctity of paying tribute to our fallen “defenders of freedom” on a very special day. I want to thank Steve Millage and others who were responsible for inviting me to offer a few remarks again this year.
     Each time I return to my hometown, I visit our cemetery. I walk from my folks’ gravesite to various memorial sites of other friends I knew over the years. As I get older and older, of course, there are more and more sites to visit. My mind is flooded with memories as I stop and see each site and ponder the relationship I had with the person. It is amazing just how fast time seems to fly.
     Memorial Day is a special time for visiting our cemetery and decorating the graves of friends and family. I can remember blowing “Taps” on my trumpet for several Memorial Day occasions when I was in high school, something I still am blessed to do today when asked by families to honor military men and women who gave their lives for our country.
     Memorial Day is also special in that we recognize the families and friends who died over the years who may not have served in the armed forces but stood behind those who defended this great nation over and over again. War affects everyone, not just those who go to a faraway land and fight.
     It would be nice if we didn’t have to have a well-trained, well-disciplined armed force, but in this chaotic world, that is not something that will ever happen. In fact, if you study the Bible, you will see that wars and fighting will continue until end times, though there may be periods of false peace. America must be prepared to defend itself against those who would want to interrupt or interfere with our way of life.
     I served a very satisfying two decades in an Air Force uniform. Ironically, however, I never did go to combat. Though volunteering for Vietnam three different times when I began my career, I was never sent to that conflict; furthermore, at the end of my career, I retired before the fighting began in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Nonetheless, I trained and sat alert as a fighter pilot for a number of years, ready to defend this great nation when called upon. And I would do it again.
     Over the years, we have seen our military reduced to a less-than-required size and, much of the time, our young warriors are asked to use outdated and old equipment. That is unacceptable. America is required to be able to defend not only our interests but our allies’ interests, and over time, our manpower levels have been reduced to less than before World War II. Yet, we have men and women deployed to the four corners of the earth. Additionally, much of our aircraft, ships, tanks and other required equipment is old and needs to be refurbished or replaced.
     Of course, replenishing our military assets takes money — and that is always a challenge, what with other areas that America needs to fund. Our government leaders don’t have an easy job deciding which programs to support, but they must make sure we can defend our country at all costs.
     On this Memorial Day, like in years before, we will honor those who have sacrificed for our many wonderful freedoms by defending the United States around the world. Name a location on the globe and America probably has some men and women there — full time or temporarily — to support friendly countries against threatening forces. Our armed forces are in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. Some National Guard personnel are even positioned along the border of the United States — to stem the tide of illegal immigration. Summer, winter, fall and spring and in bitter cold or stifling heat, our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines carry out their duty to ensure the safety and prosperity of those of us at home. Many will return with scars of war showing — physically and mentally.
     Literally millions of Americans have died in wars over the years. Fortunately, though falsely exaggerated by the media, our death rate from warring action has been considerably reduced. WWII was horrible: 50 million lives were lost during that horrible war. Nearly 44,000 U.S. aircraft were lost and half of those in training flights — with the attendant loss of pilots and crew. An average of 6,600 American men died each month during the war. Fortunately, our training, tactics and technology have reduced the death rate in conflicts exponentially. In fact, more Americans were killed at Normandy Beach on D-Day than have been killed in Afghanistan over the last 10 years.

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