By Andrew P. O’Meara, Jr.
Colonel, United States Army, Retired
GCC/Staff
Mar. 30, 2011

Editor’s Note: Col. Andrew O’Meara, will be giving a speech at The American Legion Chapter of Monks Corner, South Carolina. He was asked to provide remarks honoring our fallen heroes at their ceremony on Memorial Day.

Here is his speech, it is worth reading to everyone you know.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my fellow Veterans: It is an honor to address you on this day of remembrance. The men and women we honor today share bonds that link them with one another, but also with the men and women of earlier generations, who served in defense of liberty.

Ours is a nation born in defense of liberty and equality – concepts once viewed as revolutionary. The American commitment to liberty has characterized our people from the earliest settlements on our shores.

Our ancestors called their experiment in liberty, a “City upon a Hill,” as an example to men and women everywhere.

It was an exceptional statement of intent to separate ourselves from the Old World and the bondage our ancestors left behind in their quest for a new nation under God devoted to aspirations that have shaped America.

The generous sacrifices of those whom we honor today forged an indelible character upon our people. The American tradition of liberty made possible the opening of the frontier by pioneers, who carved a nation out of wilderness.

Theirs was a legacy of freedom “…endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” words used by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence severing their ties with England and rejecting their colonial status.

How are we to measure the debt we owe to those whom we honor today? We measure it in faith, blood, sweat and tears from the earliest days of the quest for independence.

It was a challenge our forefathers willingly met taking up arms so that Americans might live free and serve as an example for those in bondage in distant lands.

Many gave all that liberty might be preserved, falling in the line of duty. They were called to the colors and they answered the call to serve.

They knew the hazards of fighting professional English Red Coats; and knowing the price of freedom, they took up arms to preserve the rights their ancestors had proclaimed in the earliest settlements in America.

Their descendents followed their courageous example, fighting on American battlefields, as well as in distant lands that liberty might prevail over tyranny.

Defense of American freedom spans centuries and has become a vital part of our heritage. The sacrifices of American patriots were marked by bloody footprints in the snow at Valley Forge.

The Continental Army and local militia met the Red Coats on battlefields from New England to South Carolina. American patriots fought a long and exhausting war against English tyranny to win their independence.

Decades later the issue of slavery threatened to dismember the nation. English slave traders had imported slaves to the colonies over many years; and English governors legalized slavery to expand trade with England.

The slave trade and slavery generated vast wealth for the English Crown. Following their defeat at Yorktown, the English surrendered leaving English laws preserving slavery sill on the books in their former colonies.

Slavery was an English legacy that aroused passions throughout the land. Regrettably, the Constitution failed to protect the freedom of those still in slavery, creating passionate differences between the states.

Angry confrontations over slavery led to the great clash of arms between men dressed in blue and gray.

They fought for four long years on blood soaked battlefields across America. 600,000 died in the War Between the States to settle the issue.

Americans from North and South paid a bitter price for English profiteering from the slave trade in their American colonies. Human bondage ended in a sea of blood through armed conflict that haunts entire families, whose hearts “were touched by fire” as Oliver Wendel Holmes would later put it. The 13^th Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery in January 1865.

In the Twentieth Century Americans in olive drab fought in the trenches of World War I to halt aggression and bring liberty to captive nations in Europe.

A generation later, America defended freedom during World War II. The blood of Americans turned the surf of Normandy Beaches red and left a trail of blood and graves across two continents that liberty might replace human bondage.

American battles against the Nazis traversed North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany, defeating the Nazis, who had taken the lives of fifty million souls.

In the Pacific soldiers, sailors, and marines made similar sacrifices as they fought their way across a vast ocean – island by island – in bitter battles to defeat the Japanese Empire.

The Korean War marked another bitter chapter in our national experience as GIs made heroic sacrifices to halt communist aggression and preserve liberty.

It was an ugly war fought in arctic cold on mountain tops to defeat Chinese Communist hordes and North Korean invaders to secure South Korean liberty.

A decade later President Johnson pledged to halt aggression against South Vietnam and a new generation of soldiers and marines in jungle fatigues fought countless battles supported by Air Force and Navy firepower to secure a hard won peace.

It was a fragile peace that was tragically lost by politicians in Washington, who wasted our sacrifices in a shortsighted policy trading hard won victory in return for communist conquest of our gallant allies.

It was a bad decision that broke faith with our Fore Fathers to cut costs in return for the enslavement and brutal slaughter of those, who had put their faith in America.

Despite the bitter sacrifices of the Vietnam Veterans, American men and women in jungle fatigues kept faith with their fathers and never lost a battle to communist aggressors from North Vietnam. Hanoi left 1.4 million soldiers dead upon battlefields across the country.

Despite the betrayal of South Vietnam, our sacrifices secured ten critically important years that allowed Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia time to defeat local communist movements.

Moreover, the long war waged by Hanoi, and supported by Moscow, exhausted the Soviet Union contributing to the economic collapse of the USSR.

Vietnam Veterans can hold their heads high for their sacrifices, which proved invaluable in halting communist conquest of Southeast Asia. Moreover, the price paid by the Soviet Union to support North Vietnamese invasions of South Vietnam led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact, and helped to secure the final victory in the long Cold War.

Today a new generation of brave warriors in battle dress uniforms led the struggle for liberty in Central Asia.

Their sacrifices continue the fight for liberty against barbaric cut-throats. Islamic terrorists hide among the civilian population, wear no uniforms and wage war upon defenseless non-combatants. 

 The sacrifices of our men and women in uniform have made democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan possible, creating a popular demand for freedom that is sweeping across the Middle East as we honor our deceased veterans today.

Freedom requires each generation to defend liberty. Cemeteries mark the final resting places of those, who fought, bled and died that “government for, by and of the people might not perish from the earth,” as Lincoln phrased the vision of our Founding Fathers.

And so it is that American Cemeteries containing the sacred remains of our honored dead dot this land, as well as distant lands in Europe and the Pacific.

Moreover, countless heroes rest in unmarked graves of souls buried at sea or patriots missing in action, whose final resting place is known to God alone. It is a record of sacrifice by a generous nation, like none other.

It is an exceptional legacy bequeathed to men and women everywhere by our fallen heroes.

As we pay tribute upon this hallowed ground, we honor those who kept the faith, built America, defended freedom, and made America the dream of men and women everywhere.

Ours is a dream come true, built upon hard won victories that our sons and daughters might know freedoms that have made America great.

The sacrifices of American patriots made our nation truly great, where all are free to continue the quest for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In short the gift of our deceased veterans is of immense value and an inspiration to all mankind. Our sacred trust is to keep the faith, preserving liberty and the American dream for men and women everywhere.

It is altogether fitting that we bear witness to their brave sacrifices and honor them today as we preserve the American heritage.

Let us uncover and bow our heads in a moment of silence in recognition of our honored dead.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

Almighty God we give Thee thanks for the heroic example of our fallen veterans whom we honor today.

We ask your blessing upon our nation, a gleaming city upon a hill inspiring all mankind.

We pray for your blessings to heal our land; and give us the living the courage of those we honor today, as we seek to preserve the American dream and this great land we love. Amen.

Source: Stolen History

Editor’s Note: Colonel Andy P. O’Meara’s been featured in dozens of publications, published several exceptional titles including; ‘Only the Dead came home’ as well as ‘Accidental Warrior’.

He graduated with the 1959 class of WestPoint and continues his writing, advocacy work and research studies today.

One such program, ‘Science on the cutting edge: Hormonal impact on psychosocial dysfunction as related to PTSD’ is directed by O’Meara, Annie Hamilton, Scientific Researcher and Writer and several other figures within the military, intelligence, medical and scientific community.

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