This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

More Than A Million

Let's not forget the purpose of Memorial Day.

Recently I was stunned to discover that among 15 or so high school students, mostly seniors, not one of them knew the purpose of Memorial Day.  For them Memorial Day is a day off from school, a great day to go to the beach or to grab an extra work day to make more money. 

I suspect it's similar for many of us.  We look forward to that three-day weekend; I know I've been looking forward to it for quite some time.

But it is so important to remember that Memorial Day is a day set aside for all of us to remember and honor those who died serving our country, fighting in wars, regardless of how one feels about war in general or about any particular war. 

Find out what's happening in Montvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Since the Revolutionary War in the late 1700s over a million military folks died in war.  This website has war-by-war statistics, interesting to analyze on several levels.  Since 9/11 we have lost over 4,600 in Iraq and over 2,000 in Afghanistan.  A graphic from the CNN website shows not only where the deaths occurred but also the hometowns of our military dead in these two wars.  

Their families live among us; they are still grieving.  I cannot imagine their anguish, and I cannot imagine spending Memorial Day without pausing at least for a moment to think about the sacrifices that so many gave in service to our country, to you and me, to help preserve our American values of freedom, justice, and equality.

Find out what's happening in Montvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?