Memorial Day

In 1962, at West Point, General Douglas MacArthur addressed the Corps of Cadets, as his long career in the US Army came to a close. He chose the theme of “Duty, Honor, Country” from the motto of our United States Military Academy – words inscribed on its ancient coat of arms. This weekend, our country marks another Memorial Day. As our longest war continues, with our military deployed around the globe to fight that war, General MacArthur’s now 53 year-old lessons should come to mind.

Here is how a man some called our greatest general described American soldiers at war:

. . .on the other side of the globe, again the filth of murky foxholes, the stench of ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts; those boiling suns of relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storms; the loneliness and utter desolation of jungle trails; the bitterness of long separation from those they loved and cherished; the deadly pestilence of tropical disease; the horror of stricken areas of war; their resolute and determined defense, their swift and sure attack, their indomitable purpose, their complete and decisive victory -- always victory. Always through the bloody haze of their last reverberating shot, the vision of gaunt, ghastly men reverently following your password of: Duty, Honor, Country.

The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong.

Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines embrace daily the “highest moral laws” of which General MacArthur spoke. Receiving little in return, they prepare to sacrifice everything they have, and everything they ever could have, for the safety of our families, our communities, and our country. Nearly a million and a half Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice and proved the General’s point. Their embodiment of Duty, Honor, Country recalls the words of John’s Gospel: “Greater love hath no man than this, then that he lays down his life for his friends.”

In his reverence for the self-sacrificing souls who do our fighting, General MacArthur made it clear that love and support for our troops does not mean seeking out wars to fight. He reminded the class of ’62:

[t]his does not mean that you are war mongers. On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

Half a century later, Plato is proven right again. But though our long war continues, we must both pray and work for peace, and remember the sacrifices our warriors make when we call them out to fight. We remember on Memorial Day that our military does not even participate in anything as lowly as politics. As General MacArthur explained in his address to our Cadets:

Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds; but serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war-guardian, as its lifeguard from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiator in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded, and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.

The Founders envisioned a military entirely separate from politics, and so should we. The valor, skill and professionalism our troops display must never be used to justify their reckless or unwarranted deployment. Now that fully two centuries of unbroken service have been given to our nation, on Memorial Day we must give something back. Some of our time, some of our thoughts, some of our effort should be devoted to the memory of the multitudes who have given all they had, so we could live freely, and justly.

After two hundred years, America’s dead are buried everywhere, in the marked graves that are visited and remembered, and in the lonely places known only to God. They have earned more than one day a year from us. Read General MacArthur’s final charge to the Corps. It has outlasted him, and can never be forgotten by anyone who has heard it:

You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

This Memorial Day, remember the men and women who have never failed us.