Memorial Day 2007

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

This coming Monday, Americans will again celebrate Memorial Day, a national holiday honoring those who died in military service for our country.

Since the founding of our nation in 1776, more than 43 million men and women have served in the Armed Forces during war. Of these, more than 650,000 died in battle and another 540,000 died during wartime service.

We're in the fifth year of the War in Iraq, where at least 3,422 members of the U.S. military have died - 419 this year.

In addition to the deaths, nearly 1.5 million of our military sustained non-mortal wounds in our various wars.

Whether one agrees with the reasons for any particular war, the men and women in our military have put and are putting their lives on the line to defend our nation.

Far too many have paid the ultimate price because of their willingness to serve. We all owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for their unselfish sacrifice. In their memory we, as a nation, need to learn how to resolve differences without bloodshed by finding ways to translate Jesus' command to love one another, especially our enemies.