Remember with gratitude, pride
More than 700,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines died in U.S. wars
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Give me exhaustless - make me a fountain,
that I exhale love from me wherever I go, like a moist perennial dew,
for the ashes of all dead soldiers.
- Walt Whitman
'Ashes of Soldiers'
So many have gone, and sometimes faded from memory but for those who loved them most, but on this one day each year we are asked to pause and reflect on what they gave, and what they gave to us.
American soldiers have fought and died from the Arctic Circle to Australia, the Far East to Western Europe, and many of them still lie beneath foreign soil, interred there for lack of a way to get them home.
More than 700,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen have perished in America's wars, a staggering total that speaks of lives cut short and future promise unfulfilled.
If you have ever walked the military cemeteries like the Punch Bowl in Hawaii, Fort Logan in Denver, the Civil War cemetery at Vicksburg, Miss., our national cemetery at Arlington, or some of the small cemeteries in this area, then you probably have felt that overwhelming urge to thank the soldiers who lie there, whether you know their names or not. I know I have felt that at each of those places.
More than 4,000 brave pioneers first gave their lives and brought us freedom from a mad English king as the "shot heard 'round the world" rang out. Then, 2,200-plus more soldiers had to win it with their ultimate sacrifices once again in the War of 1812.
They died in the Indian wars on both sides, and in the U.S. war with Mexico just a year after Texas was granted statehood.
The Civil War was the bloodiest of all for Americans - brother against brother, they say - and more than half a million battlefield or war-related deaths were recorded. Unbelievable.
Then came the Spanish-American War, with a death toll of about 2,400. World War I took more than 100,000 and World War II a dreadful total of 400,000.
Korea, and then Vietnam (the most divisive of all wars for America), stole another 100,000 lives in combat and related violence.
The two Gulf Wars and the war on terror in Afghanistan have taken a toll of several thousand in dead and many more wounded, and the melancholy toll is still being added to.
I have not simply been rattling off meaningless numbers here. Each and every number in those totals was a human being, with a spouse, parents, brothers and sisters, and lifelong friends who grieved at their passing. They had dreams of what they'd do when they returned. Marry, perhaps, or build a business. Or just celebrate being back on American soil.
Therefore, we, too, should grieve, and then turn that grief to pride and gratitude on this Memorial Day.
I believe that's the way they'd want it.
Jim Bishop is a senior editor for the Advocate. Leave him a message at 361-574-1210 or jbishop@vicad.com or comment on this column at www.victoriaadvocate.com
