At some point on this Memorial Day weekend, stop a minute
to remember all those Americans who have fallen in all the wars this
nation has waged. And then, next, let’s contemplate what we ought do, if
there is any action we might take, in memory of those who didn’t come
home alive.There are indeed numerous charities caring for veterans and their families, which are worthy of support, should you have the time or money to contribute.
But as citizens, we still owe something more to those who have given, as President Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg, “their last full measure of devotion.” More even, than our appreciative applause for the troops on airplanes and at professional sporting events . . . with their high-priced, taxpayer-paid military promotions.
First, the wounded among the more than 67,000 American soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are fully entitled to the medical care they were promised. So are Vietnam vets and Korean War vets, etc. This is simply upholding contract law.
What a scandal that these suffering vets have been systematically shortchanged by the Veterans Administration — too often effectively denied medical care. And a further one that official Washington gets away with meandering along merely changing suits at the VA and claiming it’s fixed, without making real progress to uphold what is a legal and a moral and sometimes a life-and-death responsibility to these soldiers.
