After having DVR'ed the History Channel's "WWII in HD" two years ago, my husband and I finally finished watching the series yesterday. The series is comprised of real footage from WWII. It is extremely informative and extremely heartbreaking, which is why it took two years to watch...
It is now 2011, and we are still engaged in a war. While I am by no means trying to undercut the severity of the current fighting, it does not compare to the ferociousness of the battles of World War II.
In WWII, 415,000 American soldiers died. In total, between 50-70 million people died, from all over the world, and they weren't all soldiers...
Today, it is very easy to feel removed from the fighting in Afghanistan. We are not asked to purchase war bonds to support and fund the war. We do not anxiously sit around the radio to hear the latest news. Civilian men are not being forced to leave their families to do a job they've never been trained to do. Civilian women aren't required to leave the home to become welders or to produce heavy machinery.
While we may not all be connected to the current war as we probably should be, it is important to understand the freedom we enjoy everyday did not, and does not, come free.
The topic of war is typically a heated and divided discussion. Many support the efforts but are skeptical of a positive outcome, especially those having lived through the Vietnam War era. Many disagree with war in any shape or form. And, many others don't know what to think...
But whether we agree with war or not, as we celebrate our Independence Day, we should remember that without our Continental Army, we may not have become the United States we know today. Without the young and courageous men and women of the two world wars, our country may have endured more civilian casualties. Without the volunteer heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan, September 11th may not have been the only sad date we'd have to remember.
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