Tim Rice:
“…It’s easy to think of Memorial Day as just another patriotic summer holiday. Along with Independence Day, Memorial Day is a reason to fly the flag, fire up the grill, and remember those who have fought for our country. But unlike Veterans Day, which honors all those who have worn the uniform, Memorial Day pays tribute specifically to the fallen. That’s an important distinction, but there’s another distinction that Memorial Day doesn’t make: the reason our soldiers died. Memorial Day honors the sacrifice, in other words, but not the causes that inspired people to die for their country…
Before that happens, we owe these soldiers a display of national gratitude—but a holiday commemorating World War II will be even more important when they’re gone. Tomorrow’s children will be born into a country that has forgotten the legacy of the war, and not just because those who fought it are no longer with us. The idea of the “Greatest Generation” has gone from honorific to punchline. Today, we’re quick to criticize America’s wartime decisions, whether the firebombing of Dresden or the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even the photo of the sailor and nurse, once the jubilant symbol of a triumphant nation, is viewed by some as a depiction of sexual assault.
National forgetting doesn’t bode well for the future. Today, too many Americans deride any opposing viewpoint as beyond the pale. Political opponents are casually smeared as “Nazis.” We fail to take seriously the evils of twentieth-century fascism, in part because we no longer acknowledge the moral rectitude of the Allies. We’re less equipped now to defeat fascism in its resurgent cultural manifestations….”