This is a speech I will be delivering today at a Memorial Day ceremony in my hometown. I thought I would share it with those who are willing to take a few minutes to read.
Today, we gather not for celebration, but for remembrance. We gather beneath the flag of the United States of America to honor those who gave their lives so that others might live in freedom.
Memorial Day is not simply the beginning of summer. It is not merely a long weekend or a date on a calendar. It is a sacred day set aside to remember the men and women of our armed forces who paid the ultimate price in service to this nation.
Let us remember the young Marine who never came home from the islands of the Pacific.
The soldier who fell in the frozen forests of Europe.
The sailor lost at sea.
The airman whose final mission defended liberty from tyranny.
The service members who fought in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and countless places most Americans will never see and never know.
These great Americans came from farms and factories, from small towns and big cities, AND from every race, creed, and background. Some were barely old enough to vote. Some had just begun families. Some had dreams still unrealized. Yet when their country called, they answered.
And many never returned.
Their sacrifice secured freedoms that we often take for granted.
Because of them, we worship freely.
Because of them, we speak freely.
Because of them, we can vote, gather together, defend our families, and pursue our dreams without fear of oppression.
Because of them, generations of Americans have lived under the protection of liberty rather than the dark menace of tyranny.
Freedom is not free. Every freedom we enjoy has been purchased at great cost. That price was paid in places like Normandy and Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir and Khe Sanh, Fallujah and Kandahar. It was paid with courage, pain, and sacrifice.
Sometimes we speak about freedom as though it just appeared out of nowhere — as though it is the natural condition of the world. History teaches us otherwise.
Freedom is rare.
Freedom is fragile.
Freedom survives only when brave people are willing to defend it.
The men and women we honor today understood that truth.
They understood that there are causes greater than comfort. Greater than safety. Greater even than life itself.
Many of them never saw themselves as heroes, and probably still wouldn’t if they could speak to us today. They were ordinary Americans who did extraordinary things in the most extraordinary and harrowing of times. They left home with fear, uncertainty, and trepidation, just as anyone else would. Yet they moved forward with courage anyway.
Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing what is right despite fear. I am reminded that FEAR can stand for Face Everything And Rise. And rise they did, even though they would fall in battle.
Today, we also remember the families who carried burdens most of us can scarcely imagine. The spouses who received unbearable news at the front door. The parents who buried sons and daughters. The children who grew up without a mother or father because that parent chose service over self.
Their sacrifice is also woven into the story of this nation.
To the Gold and Green Star families here today: this country owes you a debt that can never be fully repaid. Your loved ones are not forgotten. Their names live on not only in monuments and cemeteries, but in the freedoms enjoyed by every American citizen.
As we stand here today, it is worth asking ourselves an important question:
How do we honor the fallen? Can we ever DO enough?
YES, YOU CAN.
Honor them not only with ceremonies like this, flags, and moments of silence. But much more, honor them by living lives worthy of their sacrifice.
Protect the freedoms they defended.
Serve your communities.
Treating one another with dignity.
Be grateful for the blessings of liberty, and guard them here as those lost guarded them overseas.
Teach the next generation what these men and women gave for this country.
Patriotism does not mean being blind to America’s imperfections. America has faced trials, divisions, and failures throughout its history. But generation after generation of service members believed this nation was worth defending — not because it was perfect, but because its ideals were worth preserving.
They believed in liberty.
They believed in justice.
They believed future generations deserved the chance to live free.
That belief carried Americans through some of the darkest chapters in human history.
And today, that responsibility belongs to us.
The freedoms secured by sacrifice can be lost through complacency and apathy. Memorial Day reminds us not only of the cost of freedom but also of our duty to preserve it.
In a world often filled with noise and distractions, this day calls us to pause and reflect.
– on rows of white headstones stretching across national cemeteries.
– on folded flags handed to grieving families.
– on empty chairs at dinner tables across America.
– on the extraordinary price paid by ordinary citizens who loved this country enough to give the last full measure in its defense.
Words engraved at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, where I once served, remind us: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”
Those words capture the spirit of Memorial Day. Some who died are remembered in history books. Many more are known only to their families, their brothers and sisters in arms, and to God. But every one of them mattered. Every one of them served. Every one of them sacrificed.
And every one of them deserves our gratitude.
So today, as flags wave across this nation, may we never forget why they wave freely.
May we remember the fallen with gratitude.
May we honor them with our actions.
May we cherish the liberty they secured.
“As the torch passes from generation to generation, may the unbroken chain of American valor remind us that freedom is never free — and that we, the living, are forever indebted to those who paid its price.”
“May the clarion call of liberty continue to ring across this great nation, not merely in our words, but in our lives, as we honor the fallen by preserving the freedoms for which they made the ultimate sacrifice. God bless our fallen heroes, and God bless the United States of America.”
There are three Unknown Soldiers (WWI, WWII, Korea). When I was there, the total was four. The remains of the Soldier from Vietnam were identified and removed for reburial at their home of record.
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