This great nation we call home has not come without a price. Many servicemen and women have paid for freedom’s debt with their lives. This Memorial Day those fallen soldiers shall be honored. It began with a group of men with little or no military training at all, giving up their lives in efforts to better yours. While these men suffered in places such as Valley Forge, they won the right to begin new lives in a land that knew no laws of religion or taxation from far away lands. Over the course of time wars have ravaged foreign lands, the world called on the best, and we answered the call. While trenches were called home to the soldiers of World War I, our nation answered Europe’s plea for help and 116,708 of our soldiers lost their lives to ensure our freedom would last. When Nazi Germany threatened the entire globe and Japan refused to surrender, our military went worldwide and turned the tides. After seizing The Eagles Nest, Hitler’s 6,017 ft high prized possession and dropping A-bombs in Japan our nation realized the full extent of how atrocious war can be after 416,800 Americans had lost their lives. When our troops were sent into Korea during the Cold War, preserving our ways of life cost 36, 516 soldiers to pay the ultimate price. With the Cold War still raging our boys were sent into battle again, this time against an enemy that was hard to find in the jungles of Vietnam. With little support back home and a government that was questionable at best, our boys fought hard and got little respect in return. There are many heroes of this war and I urge you to thank any Vietnam Veterans you cross paths with, but this war also lost 58,159 heroes and 1,724 more were never found. When George Bush launched Operation Desert Storm it would eventually claim 379 lives. With genocide depleting Somalia, America intervened and the military lost 43 lives in an effort that left the nation still entangled in civil war that is still being fought today. When Osama Bin Laden wreaked havoc from his cave on that September day he could not have imagined it would force him to spend the last days of his miserable life in hiding on a 24/7 basis. We rallied behind our troops and we went to war. This war in Afghanistan is not over and we will prevail because America refuses to let 1,086 soldiers die in vain. Then when “weapons of mass destruction” cast a suspicion on Iraq’s intents, we sent our military to sniff out these suspicions, which has caused 4,404 casualties to date. While our reasons for being there may be debated, the bottom line as it has been throughout history is OUR MILITARY WILL PREVAIL. So pay your respects this Monday and be thankful there are so many that have been willing to lay down their lives so we can continue to enjoy the freedoms we have today.

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