The monument of the first president of the United States stands as a sentinel to democracy, a symbol of freedom extending gloriously upward, reaching toward heaven with laud and honor.  Standing on the Mall in Washington, DC at the base of the Washington Monument and slowly turning full circle, one cannot help but be overwhelmed as the rush of history floods the senses.

Its shadows stretching toward Capitol Hill at one end and Lincoln Memorial at the other, the Mall is the melting pot of hope and opportunity for a troubled world.  And clearly the symbolism and relevance is not lost on those who hail from somewhere other than the United States.  I saw and heard tourists who were speaking German, French, Russian, and Chinese; I heard other languages I did not recognize; and what I witnessed was a microcosm of the world, fascinated with the grand city.

Everyone is familiar with the Big Three on the Mall: Washington Monument, the U.S. Capitol Building, and Lincoln Memorial.  Nearly everyone, I suspect, has heard of the Smithsonian Institute, that wonderful series of museums that could keep the avid museum tourist busy for weeks.  First time visitors to DC may be less familiar with some of the other war memorials: the Viet Nam Wall, the Korean War Memorial, and the World War II Memorial.

Years ago, when my wife and I spent part of our honeymoon in France, we stayed with a French family whose daughter had stayed with my family years earlier as an exchange student in Iowa.  The father of this French family took it upon himself to be our personal tour guide for the ten days we were in France.  One day he drove us up to Normandy so that we could see the site of the famous D-Day Invasion, a joint effort of the Allied forces that restored freedom to Europe in World War II. 

With tears in his eyes, he expressed gratitude for the role that the U.S. played in the war. 

In any war, there are diametrically opposed feelings and emotions — even within an individual — and rightly so.  War is brutal; war means death and destruction.  War can also mean freedom.  Sometimes (often?) in war the motives are foggy and it is not always clear when military aggression is justified and when it is not.  In recent history, protests of the war in Viet Nam and the war in Iraq have questioned this country’s motives and leadership.

I am not going to argue for or against either of those wars in this article, but I will say that if I lived in a country whose citizens were under an extremely oppressive government, I would be overjoyed for the U.S. to extend its muscle for the sake of bringing others to freedom.

The soldier who dies in service, whether it is while defending his own soil or trying to free others who are suffering under a tyrannical government, has performed the most noble deed.  He has given his life so that others may have hope, so that others may have freedom.

At the Viet Nam Memorial, the wall lists the names of those soldiers who died in the conflict.  My second cousin — my mother’s cousin’s son — is listed on Panel 42E Row 72.

Walking along the Viet Nam Memorial, there was a short span of time during which I was oblivious to the mass of humanity around me.  All I saw was jungle foliage; all I heard was the barrage of bullets and missiles all around me; and at first, all I felt was pain and sadness for all those who died. 

Then I opened my eyes.  I saw a man who may have been my age, touching a name etched in the wall, the name of a fallen soldier.  I saw an old man leaning against the wall, crying; I saw an elderly woman kneeling in prayer in front of another panel.

And then I saw a little boy standing nearby, holding a balloon and laughing.  He may have been four years old, perhaps five, and he was totally unaware of the meaning of everything the wall represents.

In a very real sense, that’s the way it should be.  The men and women who sacrificed their lives for their country died so that others may have freedom, so that others may live a life without fear of tyranny.

We should never forget the heroic and selfless actions of others; we should also be grateful for, and enjoy, the life that their ultimate sacrifice has provided for us.

Cousin Johnny, thank you.  To all the men and women listed on the Viet Nam Memorial, thank you.  And to all those men and women represented by all the war memorials in DC, thank you.

We will never forget.

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