Remembering Our Fallen Heroes——————————–
By J. F. Kelly, Jr.
Memorial Day honors those who died in active military service. About 1.1 million died in America’s wars, some while performing incredible acts of valor, others simply doing their jobs. All lie beneath the same, simple, white marble headstones, officer and enlisted alike. All are remembered with gratitude for their ultimate sacrifices.
World War II, the largest war in my lifetime, claimed about 416,800 American military lives, a tragic loss but a small fraction of the 23,637,900 military deaths suffered by all nations involved. Civilian deaths totaled nearly 34 million, few Americans among them because our homeland was spared the ravages of battle. We should be grateful that our brave veterans fought and died in distant lands in part to keep war far from our shores.
That war was fought oceans away, but the effects were deeply felt here at home. The shortages and rationing were a small price to pay toward the war effort. Our greatest concern was the safety of our troops overseas. Nearly everyone had friends or relatives in harm’s way. My eldest brother was one of them, an infantryman in combat in the Southwestern Pacific theatre. He made it back, thin and weak from malaria, but he made it back. Many did not.
When weeks would pass without letters, we feared the worst, dreading a telegram that began, “We regret to inform you…” We all knew families that received that telegram. I recall the day my sixth grade classmate received word that his brother was killed in action. We couldn’t believe that he was never coming home, his body now lifeless at the bottom of the Pacific.
After that “war to end all wars”, we lost another 50 thousand men in the Korean Conflict, a war that we were ill-prepared to fight at the start because we were so quick to drastically downsize the armed forces after WW II. Many early casualties were attributed to this.
Today, our armed forces are again too few and overextended. Reluctant to commit ground troops to combat roles, we rely more on drones, special warfare and the standoff capabilities of naval and air forces. But our ships and aircraft are ageing and there are too few of them. We aren’t building enough of them to sustain even current anemic force levels. We still rely on our mobile Navy/Marine Corps team to maintain presence around the world and provide quick reaction wherever our vital interests are challenged. The challenges are many, particularly in the turbulent Middle East and the South China Sea where China is declaring sovereignty over a huge ocean area through which much of the world’s seagoing commerce passes. Our Navy now is the smallest since the Great Depression. Our nuclear deterrent, moreover, is ageing while Russia and China modernize theirs. The surest way to deter war is and always has been to maintain sufficient strength to discourage any aggression.
Past wars were fought mainly by our brothers, sons, husbands and fathers. In future wars, they will be joined in combat by our sisters, daughters, wives and mothers. Our civilian leaders, few of whom have ever experienced combat or, indeed, any military service, should remember this when they commit them to combat.
On this Memorial Day, as in the past, we fly the flag proudly and decorate the graves of the fallen. And as we honor their memory and show appreciation for their sacrifices, let us cherish the freedom they paid for with their blood and vow that we never send our men and women into harm’s way without the equipment, numerical strength and rules of engagement they need to get the job done and come home safely.
(Kelly, a resident of Coronado, is a retired Navy captain who commanded three San Diego-based ships and a naval laboratory. He writes on defense issues. This column appeared originally in The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 28, 2016)
Commentaries by J. F. Kelly, Jr. 