Memorial Day 2025 - WMAG

 What Makes America Great

A price for greatness

This is a special Memorial Day post dedicated to my oldest brother Gary Marvin who passed away earlier this month. He is the second older brother that we - my sister, baby brother and I - have lost. Like his other three brothers, he too was a retired AF vet. Also, a comedian, a great guy and yes, Gary, you were the best looking Pederson brother. (Thanks for leaving me as the remaining oldest - and best looking - brother. RIP) 

As always, Memorial Day is a time for pensive reflection on the sacrifices that a tiny minority of Americans make for everyone else. Their commitment to the country can be summed up by the oath taken by military officers. It's very similar to the one our President and other constitutional officers take (but perhaps with more conviction by us?) 

I, having been appointed a (rank) in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, Foreign and domestic, that I bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. 

Just words when written on a piece of paper but when spoken they take on a greater meaning. I admit I didn’t fully understand the importance or gravity of those words when I took that oath as young 2^nd Lt. some 55 years ago. However, when you march through many years of war and peace in the company of others who have taken the same oath - an oath that many fulfilled with their lives - those words hit home. It caused me to think more deeply about my country: How great it must be to enable men and women to willingly take such an oath.

Now some suggest that our greatness is past and must be reclaimed?

I reject that.

This Memorial Day it is more important than ever to remember that greatness is not some arbitrary point in time dictated by individuals. It is a culture arrived at over decades and centuries so I think it is better to describe what makes America great than when it was great. 

Just a few examples of our greatness, some well-known, some not.

In 1927 a 25 yr old Minnesota lad, after sitting in his Spirit of St Louis cockpit for 33 and half hours, Charles Lindbergh made it nonstop from NY to Paris. A nazi sympathizer at first, he came to his senses and served honorably in WWII. An excellent example of we complex Americans, capable of great -  and stupid - things alike.

The Tuskegee Airmen was a primarily Black WWII Air Corps fighter unit. Of their 922 pilots, five were Haitians and one pilot was from Trinidad. It also included an airman born in the Dominican Republic and another born in Jamaica. Despite being segregated and fighting racism throughout the war, their unit had one of the best combat records.

In 1948, just a few months after Dear Leader was born, the US government implemented something known as the Marshall Plan. One of the greatest examples of wise governmental policy in history, we gave the current equivalent of $133 billion to the devastated countries of Europe. Yes, it was good for us and was America at its finest.

Also in 1948 the communists blockaded west Berlin. We the undertook, along with the Brits, the greatest airlift ever. From June 1948 to Sep 1949 we supplied 2.5 million Berliners with everything from coal to food - one aircraft landing every 45 seconds around the clock - while losing 17 aircraft and 31 crew members in the process. Again, America at its best at solving a problem and sacrificing for others.

1950-1953 Korea 36,516 US troops died in the Forgotten War.

In the mid-50’s the US started the Interstate freeway construction project that didn’t end until 1992. At the cost of over a trillion current dollars, we built 40,000 miles, connecting the whole damn country! Ingenious and well done.

MLK Speech 1963

Martin Luther King's brilliant "I Have a Dream" civil rights speech in 1963 

1969 The Stonewall Riots in NYC - beginning of LGBTQ rights movement.

1965-1975 2.7 million soldiers, including 11,000 women, served in the tragic, unpopular Vietnam war. Over 58,220 Americans died and . . . 

. . . Most GIs came home not to cheers but to jeers and vitriol for doing what their country asked of them.

Vietnam Last Flt Home

 

Women GI's Vietnam

Greatness comes in many forms apparently including taking abuse for your service and sacrifice

2001-2021  20 yrs of war in Iraq/Afghanistan: 7054 combat deaths including 159 women and . . .           

Combat in Afghanistan

. . . An entire generation of greatness returned to a well deserved "thank you for your service.'

The 2000 the presidential election was very controversial, the Supreme Court had to step in and force a decision. We may or may not agree with the outcome but what might have caused a coup or bloodshed in other countries did not occur because of respect that the loser and his voters had for the Constitution - one of the greatest achievements in our government’s modern history. (Sadly, 20 yrs later to be soiled.)

9/11 Flt 93 Memorial

On 9/11 Minnesotan Todd Beamer was heard saying, “Are you ready? OK, let’s roll.” Passengers on Flt 93 then forced the locked cockpit door to break in and take control of the plane resulting in all onboard dying but saving countless others.

 

More than 3,600 healthcare workers died caring for others in the first year of the pandemic.

J6 2021 - 138 officers were injured, with 15 hospitalized, some with severe injuries, in battling over 2000 insurrectionists. 7 died during or after the attack.

The few against the many

And an unusual form of greatness . . .

-       VP Pence did his job even as his boss wanted to kill him.

Not all greatness requires heroes or fame, nor does it require an oath. Everyday somewhere in America millions of average people are still doing great things. It could be volunteering to be an election judge, tutoring a child, serving Meals on Wheels – protesting against government overreach and malfeasance? - or any number of things.

WE make America great!

A different symbol of greatness

Today we acknowledge the sacrifices of our military members. Let us stay worthy of that sacrifice by remaining a great nation through our actions, large and small.  

In closing, I have posted the following on several past Memorial Days because I have never been able to find a better expression of my thoughts about this important day. To those of you who have read it before and grow weary, I apologize. To others, perhaps it will strike a chord. 

"War is young men (and now women) dying and old men talking."  Franklin Roosevelt        

Thoughts on "Taps."

I can’t listen to taps without tearing up. Sometimes I’m not sure why this is so. Is it because of the magnificent mournful horn that so perfectly matches the feeling of saying farewell to a warrior? Or am I crying for all the loved ones left behind — the millions and millions over many years? Perhaps I’m crying for something else, maybe I’m crying for myself.

Ultimately, I think I’m crying because taps reminds me that the world never seems to change for the better. No matter how many heroes pay the ultimate price, war always demands more. Worse, it always our young whom it craves. Worst of all, we proudly offer them up.

Maybe I’m sad that someone somewhere will always be able to make complete strangers kill each other for the same reasons over and over, like an eternal World War I trench battle that rages over the same, small piece of ground in perpetuity. Each generation, like some militant Sisyphus, pushes the rock of war up the hill only to have it roll back on the next. No matter how just, proud or righteous that rock appears, it remains a monument to a belligerent humanity’s worst instincts.

I spent 28 years in the military and my son has also served honorably. Someday taps will sound for each of us. And for that I am proud. But knowing that melancholy song will need to be played for endless future generations will always make me cry.

Not for sadness but for anger.  

Although that time when wars will no longer plague us is apparently still far in the future, perhaps commemorating Memorial Day can provide us with some hope that it will eventually come to pass.

Have a thoughtful Memorial Day.

Taps     Sung by Mel Carter

This one's for you, Gary

When I Die      Blood,Sweat and Tears