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I wrote this column for last year's Memorial Day. It still works for me, so I'm running it again with this preface:

Since last year, the last two people I started Aviation Officer Candidate School Class with in January 1982 (Class 11-82) retired from active duty. Both attained the United States Navy rank of captain, which is the same as colonel in the Army. Captain Larry Lasky was a SEAL (the Navy component to the United States Special Operations Command) and Captain James J. Gillcrist was an aviator. Both were commanding officers more than once in their careers, and Captain Lasky was awarded the Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan.

I was able to attend Captain Lasky's retirement, and a group of us who had not seen each other in quite awhile were able to reunite. We were able to reconnect quickly and enjoyed the day. It's amazing how the experience of spending four months under the nurturing care of a Unites States Marine Corps drill instructor can bind a group of people for life. We had a very good time discussing that time, as well as our time in the Navy. Except for Captain Lasky, we were all aviators, which is a small community; inevitably, we discussed people who we served with but who were no longer alive.

Every Memorial Day, I take time to remember each person I served with who was killed on active duty. In the words of one of my classmates, Hal Walker (who retired as an aviator a few years ago), "I think of all my comrades that did not walk away from their last landing and wonder why God chose to save me from my own stupidity while He took these people who were better than I."

I take solace, however, in the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt used on certificates sent to next of kin during World War II: "He stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and increase its blessings. Freedom lives, and through it he lives--in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men."

Have a thoughtful Memorial Day.

May 27, 2007

Memorial Day is a holiday specifically to honor those who died in military service to our country. As a veteran, it is particularly meaningful to me

Although I was never in combat, I was a helicopter pilot, and that's a dangerous job. Over the years I was on active duty, I lost eight friends to mishaps and they died with another 32 people in the same accidents. I lost another former shipmate on Sept. 11, 2001, in the Pentagon attack.

One of my fellow pilots, Bobby Bianchi, was also a New Jersey native. He was a Naval Academy graduate and one of the nicest guys I've ever known. There was a lot to admire about Bobby: He was the academy's lacrosse-team captain and a fine officer and pilot--but what I'll never forget was how huge his spirit was. He was the kind of person who could make you feel good regardless of what was going on. He cared.

Bobby died in a 1987 training accident in the Philippines with two other friends, Andy Pruitt and Doug Groll, and an Army officer, Ronald Kirkconnell, whom I didn't know. What compounds this tragedy is that his brother, Kevin, also a Navy helicopter pilot, also died in a 2003 helicopter accident.

We were all volunteers, as are our service people today. Nobody's been drafted in more than three decades in our country. However, for most Americans, the prospect of joining the service is as foreign as flying to Mars. Although recruitment advertising sometimes focuses on what I think are side issues, like money for tuition, there's obviously something more drawing certain people to serve their country in this way.

I'm not sure where the motivation comes from, but for me, the desire to serve was as tangible as granite. Regardless of how I feel about this war, I'd go if called and do the best job I could. Fortunately for our country, we're not desperate enough to call up men my age (as of today).

I think about my friends who died in the service, but not as often as I used to. Memorial Day is a good time to formally think about them and recall their faces. If it is memories that keep people alive, then they'll live in that way as long as my brain allows them to. The memory of them helps me focus on what made their sacrifice meaningful--the support and defense of our Constitution.

I believe what John Adams said: "Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives." By keeping my brothers alive, if just in my mind, they continue to serve and always will by helping me continue to serve our country by keeping a free press running.

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