"I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
Captain Nathan Hale, a 21-year old officer in the Continental Army, uttered those famous words upon his execution at the hands of British forces.
231 years later--and in all the years in between--those words define the spirit of America's servicemen.
"I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
Captain Nathan Hale, a 21-year old officer in the Continental Army, uttered those famous words upon his execution at the hands of British forces.
231 years later--and in all the years in between--those words define the spirit of America's servicemen.
Oh by the way, for John Kerry and the other liberal elitists who see our military folks as uneducated grunts, Nathan Hale was a Yale man.
In fact, our young men and women in the armed forces are quite a precocious bunch by trade.
They choose to answer a transcendental calling. They fill the void left by the patriots of previous generations to provide the vigilance required to preserve freedoms that may be God-given on paper but have always been hard-won in practice. They have an innate sense of history that evades the comprehension of tenured faculty at many of our nation's universities.
How many 20-year-olds do you know who are prepared to sacrifice their dreams and lay down their lives to advance the rights and dreams of strangers? The only ones I have ever met have been in uniform.
Their love of country has often and ashamedly gone unrequited. But no matter how many times our soldiers were under-funded in battle and under-rewarded at home, they have steadfastly served as exemplars for what America is and should be.
As someone who never served in the military, I know that not even Steven Spielberg can convey a true appreciation for the valor, the sense of honor, and the shared experience of America's freedom warriors.
Veterans Day for me then is a time to recall the sacrifice, honor the memory, and celebrate the lives of Nathan Hale and the tens of millions of American soldiers, including my departed grandfather, who for nearly two-and-a-half centuries have formed the soul of the greatest nation the world has ever seen.
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