EDITORIAL

Recall those who gave lives for our country.

   Well over a million Americans have died in war during the nation’s history. Each of them gave his or her life in defense of the freedoms we cherish as a nation. Most, however, have receded into the past, lost amid the stories of generals and statesmen that make up our history books, consigned as footnotes to the larger movements of history.
   In 1958, prior to the burial of the Unknown Soldiers of World War II and the Korean War, John C. Metzler, superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, told a magazine reporter:
   "I will tell each person what I have told others in the past — that exactly who the men on the hill are is not as important as the fact that they are there. Being there, they are not only representative of other men who died unknown, but of all men who have fought for America. For that reason, they belong to all of us."
   Mr. Metzler, who was a sergeant in the Army during World War II, died May 25, 1990. His grave is at Arlington National Cemetery.
   It is the efforts of the individual soldier, the airman, the sailor that have helped us win and retain the liberties we hold dear and it is in their honor that we observe Monday as a national holiday.
   Not all wars were popular. Some were divisive and, perhaps, even unnecessary. But that should not diminish the efforts of the millions who served our country over the years and of those who are serving in the Middle East today.
   Memorial Day — officially recognized as a national holiday by an act of Congress in 1971 but celebrated since 1863 — is a day for remembrance.
   For more than 140 years, we have recognized the sacrifices made by the men and women who died in the line of duty, not to glorify their efforts or the battles in which they fought, but to pay homage, to remember.
   Indeed, Memorial Day is a dramatic yearly reminder of the cost of freedom — to know that so many have given their lives for something we believe in. It is also a day to consider the havoc and ruin that war often leaves in its wake.
   Those we will honor this Memorial Day weekend were sons and brothers, fathers and husbands, daughters and sisters, mothers and wives. And they are just a fraction of the men and women who died at Lexington and Concord, Bull Run and Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, the Normandy invasion, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam and during the battles that have been fought (and will continue to be waged) in Afghanistan and Iraq — the tragic legacies of Sept. 11, 2001.
   Local residents will have the chance this weekend to join loved ones and neighbors at ceremonies and parades that will honor not only those who gave their all for this nation, but those who are fighting on foreign soil today.
   We should think this weekend about what these observances truly mean — not just about the fact that we’re enjoying another day off from work.