Monday, May 30, 2011

Remembering the Heroes on This Memorial Day

Published on FrontPageMag.com by Michael Finch on May 30th, 2011

It is Memorial Day and while we are enjoying warm sunny days (one hopes), a cold beer, listening to baseball on the radio and getting our BBQ’s ready, it is also time to reflect on the sacrifice made by the thousands of soldiers who have given their lives so we could be the most free, prosperous and extraordinary country in the history of mankind.

I for one am spending my weekend hitting on all the above notes, but also reading a terrific biography of the one of the greatest Americans ever to live. The author, Robert Coram, should be applauded for bringing to light the incredible life of Marine General Victor Krulak. It is an amazing story; it is indeed, the quintessential American story. It is a story that runs through all of us; it is the real story that truly makes the American myth so real. his book, Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine, deserves a fuller review and I hope it comes into the hands of every American. And I have to wonder why I had to wait until midlife to hear this man’s story and cannot help but ask, why hasn’t Hollywood told this story? But at least these stories are still being told and we are remembering.

America has its skeptics and doubters, it is so easy to fall prey to those thoughts. Perhaps we do stand on a precipice, but then I think, we always have. I have been fortunate enough to meet some of the men and women who have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan and I see the same mettle and courage that was at Trenton, Antietam, the Somme, Iwo Jima, Chosin and Khe Sanh. So long as America produces these warriors, there is more than hope. Shake the hand and hear the story of a Marine who was at Fallujah and you will indeed know the flame for the last best hope of mankind still burns bright.

I can sit here and have a cold beer and light the coals on my BBQ, anguish over my White Sox as they struggle through another nail biting late finish, listen to my children play and laugh, all because of men like Victor Krulak and the many that fell in battle to keep us free. May we continue to be blessed. Thank you to all the fallen heroes.

Michael Finch is the chief of operations of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

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