A Eulogy for Honor: To the Veterans of the Second World War
by Joshua Minton
This has been reprinted on Memorial Day in honor of all veterans and patriots who have served their country's best interests. I originally published this in 2002 and it was picked up by a group of WWII vets who read it at their annual meeting in Las Vegas.
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We are losing you. You, who boarded ships on both coasts of this city on a hill, and traveled to the other side of the planet to defend something that wasn’t your responsibility but would be if you hadn’t acted. You, who paid the highest price man can offer fellow man, so that children who spoke unintelligible languages to you would see a day where the work they performed was their own choice. You, who filled fox holes in Bastogne, caves in Okinawa, and the skies above France on that Day of Days to drive the vehicle of American Justice straight into the fire den of the demon’s home. You are slipping from the fingers of a grateful nation that has held you, comfortable, in a clenched fist for over half a century now.
Know that there are Americans whose hearts swell and whose eyes flood with tears every time yours’ do when speaking of the noble sacrifices you witnessed daily in the early part of that fateful decade that claimed so many human lives throughout the world. There are those of us who hold you as a hallmark in our minds of what level of greatness can be achieved in the mortal life of man. There is not enough metal produced in the hearts of stars to create enough statues to honor what you accomplished and what you gave up so that others may experience and take for granted that which you so nobly deferred in the interests of yourselves and your fellow man, that they be given the right to choose the paths of their own lives and that you may preserve your right to do so.
What you have given us is all that one human being can do for another; preserve their right to choose and interfere only when that right is being infringed upon by others. We will miss your wise eyes and the pain you have carried around, nestled in each wrinkle on your beautiful faces, however scarred and frowned they may be as you look upon a generation who seems to obfuscate and pass over the sacrifices you have made.
And there are Americans whose hearts fill with viscous anger when they hear the despicable lack of support from countries like France and Germany where thousands of your comrades' bodies lay buried under white crosses, when the former country's last military action was loading human beings on cargo trains to be enslaved, tortured, murdered in mass quantities and burned like timbers; and the latter country who will wear a stain of blood for a thousand years to come, but whose people have been given the right to choose their own lives, apart from this shameful past, much like America and the choice we have made in regards to our sins of slavery and segregation. We do not choose to grieve your loss, now numbering in the thousands every year. Instead, we choose to celebrate and honor your lives of accomplishment and sacrifice, and the sacrifice of all veterans that have supported the flag of liberty, even in dubious circumstances.
This is a eulogy in honor of sacrifice and pride, but not a eulogy for honor and sacrifice. We are your sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters. We have listened and learned from your stories. We have loved you for the people you were and the people you have made us into. We will wear your memory as badges of honor for generations to come. We will flower your tombstones with roses and blood if necessary, to honor that which you too sacrificed on our behalf. Words hold little value to groups, so allow this to be directed to each of you as individuals. We love you. We honor you. We will cherish your memory forever.
Thank you for our freedom.
LINKS:
The Revolutionary War
The War of 1812
The U.S. Civil War
The Spanish-American War
World War I
World War II by the BBC
The Cold War
The Korean "Conflict"
The Vietnam "Conflict"
The U.S. Invasion of Grenada
Operation Desert Storm
The United Nations Campaign in Kosovo
The U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan
Operation Iraqi Freedom
TAGS:
memorial day, Patriotism, Freedom, War, peace, Military, Armed Forces
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We are losing you. You, who boarded ships on both coasts of this city on a hill, and traveled to the other side of the planet to defend something that wasn’t your responsibility but would be if you hadn’t acted. You, who paid the highest price man can offer fellow man, so that children who spoke unintelligible languages to you would see a day where the work they performed was their own choice. You, who filled fox holes in Bastogne, caves in Okinawa, and the skies above France on that Day of Days to drive the vehicle of American Justice straight into the fire den of the demon’s home. You are slipping from the fingers of a grateful nation that has held you, comfortable, in a clenched fist for over half a century now.
Know that there are Americans whose hearts swell and whose eyes flood with tears every time yours’ do when speaking of the noble sacrifices you witnessed daily in the early part of that fateful decade that claimed so many human lives throughout the world. There are those of us who hold you as a hallmark in our minds of what level of greatness can be achieved in the mortal life of man. There is not enough metal produced in the hearts of stars to create enough statues to honor what you accomplished and what you gave up so that others may experience and take for granted that which you so nobly deferred in the interests of yourselves and your fellow man, that they be given the right to choose the paths of their own lives and that you may preserve your right to do so.
What you have given us is all that one human being can do for another; preserve their right to choose and interfere only when that right is being infringed upon by others. We will miss your wise eyes and the pain you have carried around, nestled in each wrinkle on your beautiful faces, however scarred and frowned they may be as you look upon a generation who seems to obfuscate and pass over the sacrifices you have made.
And there are Americans whose hearts fill with viscous anger when they hear the despicable lack of support from countries like France and Germany where thousands of your comrades' bodies lay buried under white crosses, when the former country's last military action was loading human beings on cargo trains to be enslaved, tortured, murdered in mass quantities and burned like timbers; and the latter country who will wear a stain of blood for a thousand years to come, but whose people have been given the right to choose their own lives, apart from this shameful past, much like America and the choice we have made in regards to our sins of slavery and segregation. We do not choose to grieve your loss, now numbering in the thousands every year. Instead, we choose to celebrate and honor your lives of accomplishment and sacrifice, and the sacrifice of all veterans that have supported the flag of liberty, even in dubious circumstances.
This is a eulogy in honor of sacrifice and pride, but not a eulogy for honor and sacrifice. We are your sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters. We have listened and learned from your stories. We have loved you for the people you were and the people you have made us into. We will wear your memory as badges of honor for generations to come. We will flower your tombstones with roses and blood if necessary, to honor that which you too sacrificed on our behalf. Words hold little value to groups, so allow this to be directed to each of you as individuals. We love you. We honor you. We will cherish your memory forever.
Thank you for our freedom.
LINKS:
The Revolutionary War
The War of 1812
The U.S. Civil War
The Spanish-American War
World War I
World War II by the BBC
The Cold War
The Korean "Conflict"
The Vietnam "Conflict"
The U.S. Invasion of Grenada
Operation Desert Storm
The United Nations Campaign in Kosovo
The U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan
Operation Iraqi Freedom
TAGS:
memorial day, Patriotism, Freedom, War, peace, Military, Armed Forces
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