Many thanks to those Monument and northern El Paso County community members who showed up to honor our fallen veterans on a beautiful sunny day on Memorial Day 2024. We all could have been elsewhere relaxing, preparing for a barbecue, shopping, hiking, etc. But each person took the time, mostly to honor people we never knew, and to remind the world that those veterans made a difference for our country.
OCN reported the crowd at hundreds, but it would have been nice to see thousands. Even in a highly concentrated military community, as we drift farther away from U.S. military engagements overseas, there seems to be less interest in remembering those who achieved those freedoms. That saddens me. In my father’s generation, “The Greatest Generation,” and himself a proud WWII Marine, 14 of 14 of my family’s male members served in the military. In our next generation, Baby Boomers, it was only 1 of 40. Of the Millennial children of my immediate family, so far only 2 of 18. Service to our country makes a huge difference in how someone views our nation, the world, and the values and truths enshrined in our Constitution.
If you look at the stats, the vast majority of our fallen soldiers were very young, probably averaging in their early 20s. They had their entire lives in front of them, yet most chose to voluntarily put their life in danger to fight for freedoms of religion, speech, press, to gather, and not just for our country but for others around the globe. After the ceremony, I walked throughout Monument Cemetery and was amazed to see the faded and simple gravestones from Civil War veterans who were buried there. Soldiers from Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, and other states. They each fought in our internal conflict over 160 years ago. I was proud to be among those who, in less than an hour, honored the memory of young heroes who lost decades of their lives for me.
Patrick Kiernan
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