Darin Gaub's article was originally posted in Armed Forces Press on May 24, 2024, and is republished here with permission.
Each year in May we are routinely invited to take part in traditional Memorial Day activities. Barbeques and family gatherings compete with merchandise sales and the occasional remembrance ceremony. For many of us though, Memorial Day is meant to be focused on taking the time to honor the fallen and remember those who paid the last full measure. Not all paid that price, but many did. Rather than the normal Memorial Day weekend social event, I choose to remember people like Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin Burke and First Lieutenant Clay Cullen. They were killed in an Apache crash at Fort Irwin, California in 2018 where they served under my command during a month-long training exercise. Then there are the crews of Colossal 31, Extortion 17, Arrowsmith 35, and all too many others who willingly laid down their lives to protect the citizens of this great American Republic. May they rest in peace.
My message is simple. This Memorial Day, please take time to honor the fallen by fighting for the living. Each human life is valuable and worthy of defending from conception through death. Human beings of all ages thrive in liberty, and part of fighting for the living is to take up the mantle of leadership and service across America and get engaged in your communities. Our nation needs its veteran leadership now more than at any time in our history. But veterans are only a part of the solution. We need all who fear God and understand how this Constitutional Republic is supposed to be governed to step up.
You can best honor the fallen by fighting for the same things for which they fought. God, Family, and Country; freedom and liberty for all.
Here are a few ideas for how to get involved:
Please also watch Kelly Wright’s presentation of “America’s Hope.” I was honored to be asked to join his show and talk about my time serving in Arlington Cemetery, deploying on multiple combat tours, and about how my family has served this nation for over ninety years of combined service encompassing three generations. The news is filled with all kinds of bad; take some time to focus on hope.
d service encompassing three generations. The news is filled with all kinds of bad; take some time to focus on hope.
"The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way -- be willing to give of ourselves."
Former President Ronald Reagan
