Every Memorial Day, I think about my dad. He was a career Marine — thirty years in uniform — and one of the bravest people I’ve ever known. In Vietnam, he saved the lives of six fellow Marines, earning the Silver Star.
Although my family worried deeply about my dad while he was serving, in the end, we were lucky. My dad returned home from Vietnam, while so many others did not.
There are thousands of names etched into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial of service members who never returned. Each leaving a family who loved them, a community with an empty space. And there are even more whose stories live on only in the memories of those who loved them and those who fought beside them.
So today, I’m thinking of every service member who never made it home, and of every family who loved them.
However you choose to observe Memorial Day, I hope we all take a moment for reflection and show gratitude for those who sacrificed everything for our democracy and honor their legacy by committing to our democracy as well.
— Deb
