Wednesday, July 9, 2025
This week America celebrated Memorial Day. I’ve always considered Memorial Day to be unique among American holidays.
It is a celebration — and a commemoration — that extends beyond holiday bargain sales and backyard barbecues, as enjoyable and as much a part of Americana as they may be.
Amid the bargain-hunting and festivities there should be time devoted to sober reflection on the true meaning of this holiday — remembering the men and women in uniform who made the ultimate sacrifice, who lost their lives defending our great nation.
I realize, of course, that how we celebrate Memorial Day, and how we acknowledge the courage of those who lost their lives in military service, is truly personal to each us. Parades and marching bands are wonderful tributes to the spirit and solemnity of the day, giving us the opportunity to personally thank the veterans who march in those parades as representatives of those who never made it home from war.
Memorial Day should remind all of us that freedom isn’t free. That without those who fought and died on violent battlefields, we would not be able to espouse and advocate for issues and causes that matter to us. Those heroes preserved our freedom to speak out for or against our elected officials and their policies without fear of government retaliation. Too many people, as they criticize government policies, don’t realize how similar behavior would threaten their liberty — and lives — in so many countries around the world.
Among my outstanding experiences during my years in Congress was meeting and talking with people from so many countries where they had been denied rights we take for granted or don’t take full advantage of. There were people, for instance, who would risk everything to have the right to engage politically and enjoy free elections. Yet there are tens of millions of Americans who can’t be bothered to vote, many of them often among the loudest criticizing government policies.
There are also rights that we all assume as a matter of course, such as the freedom of movement and travel from town to town, city to city and state to state without having to get government approval or give any explanation.
Perhaps the greatest tribute we can give to the memory of those who gave their lives is to do all we can to enhance the lives of veterans who survived the horrors of war, by ensuring that they receive the care and benefits they have earned and deserve. Veterans hospitals must be first-rate and readily accessible. Their heath care must include the full range of mental health care, especially the encouragement of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and programs for suicide prevention without fear of shame or embarrassment.
Similarly, no veteran should ever be homeless, and every effort must be made to provide specialized housing for disabled veterans, such as by supporting organizations like Tunnel to Towers.
Americans from all political persuasions should be proud of our nation and its history and heritage. We should be unabashedly patriotic. There is no country in the world that has done more for its own people, and the world’s, than the United States. And that is very much attributable to the men and women of our armed forces who have fought so bravely in our own Revolution and Civil War, in two world wars, in Cold War struggles like the Korean “police action” and Vietnam, in fierce Middle East struggles in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in numerous smaller but still deadly conflicts.
All veterans who have served in the military, as well as their families, have sacrificed; those who were in the caldron of combat, more so. But for those who never came home, who never lived to enjoy the fullness of life that their sacrifice made possible for the rest of us, theirs truly was the ultimate sacrifice. We must remember these brave Americans every day, but especially so during this week of Memorial Day. God bless America!
Peter King is a former congressman, and a former chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Comments? pking@ liherald.com.
