Senator Lloyd Smucker

Memorial Day Observance

On this day, we are profoundly touched by the memories of those who served and who sacrificed, so that we may continue to live in freedom. Memorial Day is the most solemn obligation among our civic observations. Every community holding a Memorial Day event is commendably fulfilling the high duty of remembering.

Each Memorial Day, there are new names to remember. Our continuing engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, to counter the terrorist threat, proves difficult and deadly. There are challenges and confrontations elsewhere that put Americans in peril. Wherever we deploy, engage, or encounter, we run the risk of lives lost. The price of freedom is paid in part with pain and sadness.

How do we honor those who lost their lives in our defense?

We remember the names, the stories told about them, the reasons they chose to serve.

We recall the character and the courage they demonstrated.

We express gratitude, for what we have – our democratic institutions, our protected freedoms, our free enterprise system – remains strong because of what they did.

We find new meaning in the purposes and principles for which our nation fights.

We pray for solace for all those stricken by loss – family, friends, neighbors, and those with whom they served. Good people are gone, lives cut short, shared hopes and joys and dreams never to be realized.

We commit to take better care of their legacy, the freedoms and privileges we enjoy as citizens, and to sustain our strong national defense and security.

We renew our vow to accord our veterans the respect and care and opportunity they earned and are due.

As we look around, there are all sorts of physical ways we have chosen to memorialize. We have many inspiring and moving memorials to the fallen – monuments, museums, statues, sculptures, gravesite markers, historical sites preserved or reconstructed. Yet, the best memorial is still memory, for in that way their spirit remains alive to us, never to be forgotten.

We do not have unknown soldiers any more. We know who is killed, where it happened, and often how it happened. This personalizes it intensely. On the frontlines of freedom, death does not discriminate. It hits the careful and the careless. Those on first deployment and those who serve multiple tours. American servicemen and servicewomen should never be a faraway concern or a set of statistics. We should support them, know them, understand them.

Series such as Band of Brothers and more recently The Pacific give us a depiction of what combat involves. It makes real for us the emotions they experienced, the hardships they underwent, the extreme hazards they faced, the determination and sense of duty that compelled them. What was true in World War II contains universal truths for our other conflicts.

Pennsylvanians have always been prominent in our nation's armed conflicts. From the American Revolution onward, area residents have answered the nation's call. This is captured forever on the honor rolls maintained in many of our communities, in the resting places, and most importantly in our hearts and minds, where we etch the names and beliefs and service of our servicemen and servicewomen who died in the line of duty.

The term "patriot" is used much too casually these days, often applied for nothing more than words said or political philosophies espoused. But those who serve, who set aside the comforts of life, to defend freedom, these are the real patriots.

In his book "Why Courage Matters," John McCain tells the inspiring story of Roy Benavidez. Roy sustained dozens of wounds, from bullets, shrapnel and bayonets, while saving eight men in Vietnam. On the day he received the Medal of Honor, Roy's words were incredibly poignant: "The real heroes are the ones who gave their lives for their country." Today, tomorrow, forever, those who gave their lives are genuine heroes, deserving of every moment of remembrance and every ounce of respect we can summon.

On the 40th anniversary of D-Day, President Ronald Reagan captured the essence of remembrance in simple and eloquent words: "We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free."

Today, we remember all those who gave their lives in America's service. Today, we tell them once more how very proud we are of them, and how much we miss them. Today, we take comfort knowing they are at rest, and at peace, in God's grace and care.