The Daily Citizen May 30, 2006                                                       Freedom is not free

Dear Editor,
   A few years ago, I spent a day on business in a small town in the foothills of the Ozarks. During a break, I attended a ceremony honoring American Veterans. As the service progressed, I observed five older men shuffle along at an unsteady gait and settle in lawn chairs under a shade tree nearby.
   No .longer were they octogenarians. As they stood ramrod straight, I could visualize them as America's best storming the beaches of Normandy, bombing the military-industrial centers of Nazi Germany or fighting their way up the South Pacific island chain on their way to Tokyo, Japan.
   Unfortunately, time didn't permit me to thank them personally. I wish to do so now and pay homage to all the brave G.I.'s who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
   Those valiant patriots of the American Revolutionary War, ill equipped, ill fed and poorly trained, defeated the most powerful military on earth. By doing so they helped forge a democracy such as the world had never known.
   Thirty years later their sons rose to the occasion and preserved this nation in the War of 1812.
   I have ancestors who fought in opposing armies in the civil war. I salute the soldiers of the union and the confederacy for being willing to fight for what they believed in. By the grace of God, and at the cost of over 600,000 casualties from both Union and Confederacy, the union was preserved and a race of people gained freedom.
   The doughboys sailed to Europe in WW I. In less than two years, at a cost of 63,000 American soldiers killed in action, they defeated the Kaiser's army and ended the slaughter that had claimed millions of French, British and German soldiers.
   Twenty years later, in response to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, our citizens answered the call again. By the strategy of great military leaders such as Eisenhower, McArthur and Patton, and the gallantry of the American G.I., the world was saved from the axis powers of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the conclusion of a war that lasted nearly four years, freedom was preserved at the cost of over 400,000 American lives.
    In. June, 1950, when Soviet backed North Korea invaded South Korea, our courageous soldiers forced the Red Army to retreat across the 38th parallel and held them until a satisfactory peace could be negotiated. The freedom of South Korea was 'protected at a cost of 33,000 American lives.
    As a Vietnam Marine Veteran, my heart aches for the 58,000 G.I.'s who perished in a war we lost. The justification will long be debated, but let there be no doubt concerning the courage and compassion of the American fighting man. I lost friends, men whose desire was to return to home and family, men who laid down their lives in defense the South Vietnamese people.
    In August ,1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and threatened to roll into Saudi Arabia, we rushed air power to the region. In early 1991, when Iraq refused to leave Kuwait, following 37 days of concentrated bombing, allied forces crushed the Iraqi army in the 100-hour ground war. Although American casualties were extremely light. considering the 500,000 troops committed to Desert Storm, the heartache was just as intense these who lost. loved ones,
   As a result of the deadly attacks against our nation on 9-11, we have men and women serving in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan. Through our military superiority and the indomitable fighting spirit of American soldiers, airmen and marines, we deposed a dictator and are helping to secure a government that reflects the will of the people. Whether or not a stable and democratic government will survive is yet to be determine; but I have no doubt concerning our military. The professional soldiers, as well as the citizen soldiers of the guard and reserve who leave loved ones, reflect the highest standards of a nation founded on the premise that man is endowed with certain inalienable God given rights. On this Memorial Day, let us give thanks to God for inspiring the creation of a domestic form of government and remember those who have fallen in defense of this ideal.
                  
   Master Sergeant Winford Wallace
   Arkansas Air National Guard, retired former bishop of the Searcy Church of Jesus Christ. of Latter Day Saints
   Searcy, AR