Joe Skelly does them honor and reminds us of our responsibilities as Americans to them and their families:

today’s soldiers, and the democratic fallen, now occupy a prominent place in a long tradition of American liberators, extending from the American Revolution to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The Civil War was a touchstone in this legacy. Academic historians write that it was about sectionalism, or economics, or politics. These may have been its sources, but Abraham Lincoln knew what lay at its core, and stated as much in his Second Inaugural Address: before the conflict, slavery “constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war.” Union soldiers fought to preserve the Union, but also to end human bondage. A letter penned by a Michigan infantryman during General William Sherman’s March to the Sea, and sent to his wife shortly before he was killed in the summer of 1864, encapsulates this American legacy of liberation: “The more I learn of the cursed institution of slavery, the more I feel willing to endure for its final destruction…After this war is over, this whole country will undergo a change for the better…Abolishing slavery will dignify labor; that fact of itself will revolutionize everything…let Christians use all their influence to have justice done to the black man.” Today, American fighting men and women maintain this spirit. Sean Sullivan, a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve in Connecticut, served in Najaf in the early months of Operation Iraq Freedom. “I will always remember proudly,” he says, “that I helped to free a nation.” Others like him continue to join the military, even in face of imminent battle. This author’s own Army Reserve unit is at full capacity, its ranks filled with soldiers who are motivated by duty, honor, country. They possess an intuitive grasp of the malevolent nature of our enemies. They comprehend that we are in the midst of a global campaign on whose outcome depends the viability of democratic life. They understand that as mere mortals we struggle at times to find the right path through the maelstrom. They have answered the call of both our president and our elected representatives in Congress, who, acting as the collective voice of our nation, sent our armed forces to war on September 18, 2001 and on October 14, 2002. Now, some people solicit Congress to withdraw from Iraq. It has the constitutional power to do so. This legitimate debate will be resolved democratically, by a self-governing people. Meanwhile, let us honor those who have defended our right to self-government with their last breaths. We can do so on Memorial Day by attending to their families. We have a moral obligation to comfort those who bear the brunt of the suffering, pain, and grief of our age. Let us reach out to them, with humility.

Memorial Day is about a week away. But everyday should be a memorial day.We owe those serve a great debt.