Published: February 23, 2008 08:23 pm         

It’s not enough, just to tell them ‘Thank you’

It was my privilege and honor to be asked by Henry Hart Post 1411, VFW, to be a judge in its annual Voice of Democracy Contest and the speaker at the awards dinner. Here’s what I said, and if any of it sounds familiar, that’s good; it would be something I’ve told you before and wanted you to remember:

One way I honor our veterans is by thanking them for their service and for my freedom, and by writing and talking about them in hopes that others won’t forget them or take them for granted.

What “service” are we thanking them for? Some waded ashore on enemy beachheads, drove tanks or jumped out of perfectly good airplanes into places no reasonable person would want to go. Others flew cargo planes, fixed Jeep engines, drove trucks, worked in kitchens or helped account for the dead. Not everyone fights, and all of these are important jobs.

A friend of mine was a Tuskegee Airman during World War II. He was a black soldier in the intelligence branch that served a unit of black fighter pilots who never allowed a bomber they were escorting to be shot down by enemy fighters. My friend told me what it was like to fight the Germans when he was overseas, then have to come home and face the hatred of white Americans.

Rocky Versace was a prisoner of war in Vietnam and an inspiration to his fellow prisoners. He insulted their captors, resisted them in every way he could and tried to escape four times. As he was being taken away by the Viet Cong to be executed, he was heard singing “God Bless America” at the top of his lungs. Versace received the Medal of Honor in 2002. His remains have never been recovered.

One of my schoolmates was a nurse in a field hospital. The most popular boy in my class flew Army helicopters on rescue missions until he was killed when his aircraft crashed during a storm. Another friend of mine was a prisoner of war in Korea.

Why do Americans go into the military? Some were drafted. Many from my father’s generation enlisted to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor. Throughout America’s history, many have volunteered because they believed it was their duty. Today, we have an all-volunteer military, and it is the world’s best.

Why do Americans fight? Each one has his own motivation, but sometimes it’s just to keep himself and his buddies alive. Their whole world consists of the place where they are. There’s no Big Picture for them.

An old friend told me what it was like to be a lonely, terrified kid in a foxhole in the middle of a night that was so dark he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. It happened to him on Guadalcanal. Other friends have told me about their foxholes in Vietnam, and it sounds no different. My uncle was an army medic during World War II. His description of what it feels like to be torn apart by shrapnel was very similar to what I heard from a Medal of Honor recipient who threw himself on a hand grenade in Vietnam to save his buddies. He lived because he had the presence of mind to put his helmet over it, first.

Those who survive to come home as veterans appreciate it when you thank them, but they don’t like to be called heroes. They’ll tell you the heroes are still over there.

I went to Arlington National Cemetery for the burial of an American airmen whose remains weren’t identified and brought home for almost 35 years, and I became friends with his family. It was a life-changing experience.

Some men and women see to it that every American veteran’s grave has an American flag. Old men carry rifles to stand in the rain, heat, bitter cold and snow so they can fire a volley when an American veteran is laid to rest. Others go to schools and talk to students about what America means to them. Patriot Guard motorcycle riders from my generation go all over America to provide an escort at veterans’ funerals. Some of them came to the church next door to my home, and I went out and thanked them for what they do.

They were men who, like many of my friends who are Vietnam veterans, never stopped loving and serving their country, even though — in many ways and for many years — many of its people turned their backs on them. Now, they and many of our older veterans are working to see that the same thing doesn’t happen to the troops who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. They tell me it’s a struggle. Many of these young veterans are committing suicide because they’re not getting the intervention they need.

My father had polio and was physically unfit to be in the military. Not long before he died at age 89, he told me how much it still bothered him that he couldn’t go to defend America with his brother, the medic, and their cousin, a bomber crewman who was killed over Germany and is buried in Holland. I wasn’t able to serve either, and he knew how much it bothered me. He wanted me to know it was something we shared.

Neither of my parents ever wore a uniform, but they served our country in another way by becoming teachers. They helped mold thousands of young people into successful adults. They loved America and its people, and they were proud of it and believed in it and the freedom it stands for. What is freedom, anyway? I like what President Woodrow Wilson said, that America lives in the heart of every man everywhere who wishes to find a region where he will be free to work out his destiny as he chooses.

We can honor our veterans by thanking them and remembering them and by holding our government to its obligation of providing them the benefits and assistance they deserve.

But even that’s not enough. We have to earn what our veterans have done for us. Each generation of Americans has a core of people who help maintain our freedom with the things they do in their everyday lives. They go to work and do their jobs the best they can. They’re honest, fair, informed and active in their communities. If they see a chance to make life better for someone else, they act on it.

They also teach the next generation about the American heritage, culture, traditions and responsibilities that go with our freedom, and by giving them examples to follow. That’s what we’re doing here today.

The best way to honor our veterans is by preserving America and doing what we can to improve it before passing it on to the next generation ... which means you, my young friends. You’re on deck. Your turn comes next, and I wish you well with the job you’re going to inherit. It’s never been easy, but you’ll be astounded at the pride that comes with it.

Thanks for having me here. It’s always an honor to be associated with this program. To those of you who have served, thank you for my freedom. Welcome home. God bless all of you, and God bless America.