Long time lurker, first time diarist. In March 2007, we lost one of our Marines, CPL Dustin Lee, in a mortar attack in Camp Fallujah. Dustin was from Quitman, Mississippi. That Memorial Day, the nearby town of Stonewall, Mississippi, dedicated a park to Dustin. I wrote the speech that follows for the CO (Commanding Officer) to give at the ceremony. Unfortunately, something ugent came up that prevented our attendance, so the speech went unspoken. It nags at me, like a "Thank You" card I've forgotten to send or a melody left hanging on a leading tone. CPL Lee was 20 when he died. He spent less time living than I spent in the Marine Corps, but he, and countles other young men, made a far bigger impact than I ever will. I wish he had gotten his speech. In lieu thereof, I think it would be "altogether fitting and proper" to share it with those here who chance to read it.
Speech follows:
Thank you for allowing me to be here with you on this beautiful Mississippi day. I think I should say right at the beginning that I didn’t come here to celebrate Memorial Day with you. In fact, I don’t think any American should celebrate Memorial Day. Too many Americans celebrate this weekend as the unofficial start of summer or the weekend that their local pools open. They think of it as a day of bands and barbecues, of parades and picnics. They seem to have forgotten that this is a day not of celebration, but of commemoration and rededication. It is my honorable pleasure, therefore, to observe this event here, with patriots, such as yourselves, who understand the great sacrifice made by so many of our countrymen, and who do that sacrifice honor, not just one day each year, but everyday.
So what is this day and why do we need it? We already have other holidays to honor veterans and to celebrate our nation’s founding, but while those things are a part of this day, they are not the essence of it. Memorial Day is an annual holiday to honor all those men and women, of every branch of service, who have died in armed conflict. We set aside this day in spring each year to remember those men and women who will never again smell the mock orange of Montana or the lilacs of Massachusetts; who never again will feel a cool summer breeze off Lake Michigan, or the warm embrace of a loving spouse, or sibling, or parent, or child. Whose bodies are gone, but whose spirits live on in every church and synagogue and mosque where Americans are free to worship as they choose and in every newspaper, TV show and blog where we are free to speak our minds. All this, and more, we owe to those brave Americans who willingly gave their lives so that we who remain might enjoy the fruits of freedom and the blessing of liberty.
And so, the Magnolias have again bloomed here in Mississippi and another Memorial Day has come to pass. And we find once more that American men are again fighting and dying to protect and promote our values. Men like Corporal Dustin Lee of Quitman who died in a mortar attack in Fallujah on March 21st. Like the majority of Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen, who’ve fought and died throughout our history, Dustin wasn’t even 21 years old when he went to war, but he was a man; not because of his age, but because of his character. For as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away my childish things." Many so-called men go their entire lives without ever being responsible for anything greater than their own desires, without ever contributing to any cause greater than themselves, without ever putting away their childish things. The Dustin Lee’s of America never have that luxury. Their sense of duty and commitment forces them to accept responsibilities far beyond their years; forces them to risk losing the blessings of that which they have so little tasted -- life.
And those young men are joined in our nation’s cemeteries, and countless unmarked graves around the globe, by hundreds of thousands of older Americans and, sadly, increasingly by our nation’s women. Although tragic, there is something especially American about that. In our country, the blessings of liberty are shared by all, and, increasingly, so are the burdens.
The greatest honor I will ever have has been the honor of leading young men and women in Iraq. Their love of this country and their commitment in the face of adversity has been not only inspiring, but also humbling. In their faces and their actions, I see what is best about America. And that is why each of the more than one million deaths we remember today is so tragic. Each was a life of promise cut short. Each was a loved one we will see no more. But such is the cost of freedom.
And so we gather not to celebrate, but to observe. To honor. To remember not just those whose names we know, but all those whose names we never will. As Ecclesiastes said about ancient great men, "There are some, of whom there is no memorial: who are perished, as if they had never been . . . Their bodies are buried in peace." It is, therefore, up to us, the living, to remember their deeds, and to do them honor, to rededicate ourselves to those unfinished tasks "for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."
In May of 1863, at Chancellorsville, General Thomas Jackson, General Lee’s "right-arm," was mortally wounded by his own troops. But as he lay dying in agony, his faith, both in his God and in the knowledge that he had answered his duties as he saw them, brought him comfort and solace. Stonewall Jackson looked up with calmness, and, in his dying words, said, "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees." After more than a century of Memorial Days, I doubt that there is anything new I can tell you. And so, I will address my last remarks not to you, but to those countless Americans whom we honor today. To them I say, "On behalf of the people of a grateful nation, thank you! The flag still flies, its people still free. You have done your part. You have not been forgotten. You have earned your rest under the shade of the trees."
May God bless you all, and may God guide and continue to bless our United States.