N.M. Department of Veterans’ Services Cabinet Secretary Timothy Hale
Today, the United States has more than 1.4 million military members. Over 300,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are serving on foreign soil. Worldwide, our military is actively engaged in a global war on terror. The intelligence found during the recent Osama Bin Laden takedown shows a continuing, real threat against American citizens here at home.
The efforts of our military continue to keep us from more tragedy, and we owe our soldiers a continuous debt of gratitude. We should thank them every day as we pass them in airports, shops and stores around our state. Keep them in our thoughts and prayers. By their individual oaths, they have pledged their lives to defend our Constitution and our freedoms. They have pledged their willingness to lay down their lives for us — for you, and for me.
However, on Memorial Day, we are called to honor those who have already given their lives. Memorial Day is a day of sacred honor, established by Congress and observed continuously in various forms since 1868. When originally envisioned by General John Logan, it was to be a time of healing, as graves and cemeteries of both Union and Confederate forces were to be decorated.
It was a time to heal wounds of a once-torn nation by honoring all military dead of the Civil War. Over the ensuing century, the focus has become one of honor for all our war dead.
Since the War Department began keeping records during the Revolution in 1776, it’s estimated that more than 1.2 million American heroes from every generation, from every ethnic group in this melting pot we call the United States, and both male and female — in every war — have donned the uniform of this nation and never returned to live out the fullness of their dreams.
More than 1.2 million American heroes took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies. They defended this constitution with their lives, sacrificing their love and their futures so that we can enjoy freedom and the liberties embodied in the word and spirit of the Constitution our forefathers worked so hard to write. On Memorial Day, every one of us has the opportunity to pause and remember those who gave their all — for me, and for you.
Pause and reflect
I hope everyone will make May 30, 2011 a personal day of honor and remembrance. Please take the time to attend one of the many ceremonies around the state where our citizens will stop to honor the true heroes of our society. As a minimum, I hope every one of us will notice the flags flown at half-mast until noon.
Please explain the day’s significance to your children and grandchildren. Then, no matter what you are doing at 3 p.m., take a moment to pause and reflect on the sacrifices made by those few who have answered the call. If you are on the lake, stop the boat. If you are playing golf, stop play and remove your hat. If you are preparing to eat a wonderful barbeque, stop to say a prayer of thanks for our fallen heroes. And please remember the Gold Star families who continue to live on with the daily pain of their loss, and pledge to stand beside them.
I hope every business and restaurant hosting Memorial Day sales will make a public announcement at 3 p.m. asking every customer and employee to stop and remember. Silence the cash registers or the grill orders. Stop for one minute in honor and memory. It is the least we can do.
There are Memorial Day observances in every corner of the state, at a variety of times. As noted in the General Order Number 11 by General Logan, “no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances permit… If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.”
General Logan charged us to keep the faith with those who have sacrificed for us. So please join me this Memorial Day, for we cannot let our own hands slack, or our hearts turn cold. Freedom has too high a price to forget our fallen heroes. We are not just the beneficiaries of their bravery – we are the stewards of their sacrifice.
Hale is the N.M. Department of Veterans’ Services cabinet secretary. He retired as a colonel from the U.S. Air Force in 2008 after serving 28-years, most of it as a pilot of a C-130 “Special Ops” plane. Secretary Hale flew 120 combat sorties over Iraq and Afghanistan.