[jmcarter]

Indeed today we honor their service and sacrifice. The greatest generation knew those values in such an intimate and personal way. My Dad served in the Pacific and other family members primarily served in the Army. Mother in law was an actual ?Rosie the Riverter? in Seattle. My closest Uncle was actually captured and led several other guys in their escape to safety. He simply never talked about the terrors of combat and alcohol was his nursemaid until he quit cold turkey 20 years before his death (a feat that marks his courage). The values were the hallmarks of a culture founded on family and religion. Those very institutions are under constant attack by the far left which is seemingly winning the culture war. In many ways our political ?leaders? have especially abandoned sacrifice and service in their greed for power and control. Compare the mindset of those at Normandy to subsequent warriors?

"They did not know even the simple things: a sense of victory, or satisfaction, or necessary sacrifice. They did not know the feeling of taking a place and keeping it, securing a village and then raising the flag and calling it a victory. No sense of order or momentum. No front, no rear, no trenches laid out in neat parallels. No Patton rushing for the Rhine, no beachheads to storm and win and hold for the duration. They did not have targets. They did not have a cause. They did not know if it was a war of ideology or economics or hegemony or spite. On a given day, they did not know where they were in Quang Ngai or how being there might influence larger outcomes. They did not know the names of most villages. They did not know which villages were critical. They did not know strategies. They did not know the terms of the war, its architecture, the rules of fair play. When they took prisoners, which was rare, they did not know the questions to ask, whether to release a suspect or beat on him. They did not know how to feel. Whether, when seeing a dead Vietnamese, to be happy or sad or relieved; whether, in times of quiet, to be apprehensive or content; whether to engage the enemy or elude him. They did not know how to feel when they saw villages burning. Revenge? Loss? Peace of mind or anguish? They did not know.

They knew the old myths about Quang Ngai -- tales passed down from old-timer to newcomer -- but they did not know which stories to believe.
Magic, mystery, ghosts and incense, whispers in the dark, strange tongues and strange smells, uncertainties never articulated in war stories, emotion squandered on ignorance.

They did not know good from evil."

In light of such and more recent debacles in Afghanistan is it any wonder that recruitment targets are missed so mightily and we have Guardsmen deployed around the world? The military leaders pay as much attention to DEI and pronoun training as they do to making warriors. Can we ask our military and their families to sacrifice so much today?

All we can do is demonstrate service and sacrifice in our families and community and pray for our nation. Doing that honors those that hit the beach 80 years ago.