Why Build War Memorial?

Did you every hear the story about the Regular Joe?

You know. The guy that was born in some backwater place you never heard of. He had four kids and a wife to support so he joined the Army. He started as a grunt. He was moved around the world, often with his family in tow. He never really had a chance to own anything because he kept getting transferred. Never really thinking that he may actually be called into harms way.

But then the call comes and regardless of his own personal fears and the fears of his family, he asks no questions because his country has called upon him, so he does what he believes is the right thing. The same thing millions of men and women have done before him, he goes to a foreign place he never really heard of, to defend his country from people he personally has no grudge with. However he knows that freedom is a fleeting thing and that his sacrifices are small compared to the total price that has already been paid to acquire it and to defend it.

So the Regular Joe continues to do what he believes to be the right thing. And throughout the war he does the jobs and tasks he is called on to do. Tote this, carry that, march here, go there, fight this day, carry the wounded, tend the infirmed, pass the ammo and a thousand other things that it takes to fight a war and defend freedom. None of these things ever did nor ever will mark the Regular Joe in the ranks of the likes of Patton, Nimitz,  or MacArthur. Nor even the Chesty Pullers, Pappy  Boyingtons, or Carlos Hathcocks. Most wouldn't consider this Regular Joe a hero.

Not all wars are popular to 'We the People'. This Regular Joe happened to serve two tours in a war in Southeast Asia and just like any other war, this Regular Joe saw friends and foe alike, dismembered, bloody, and scared. Never knowing what frightened him more, believing that tomorrow would never come, or knowing that it inevitably would. Often, the only thing that kept him going was his own internal strength, the support of his family, the belief that he was defending something larger than himself, and that his country needed him.

The Regular Joe was often in harms way. Shot down twice in helicopters, he knows first hand that any landing you can walk away from is a good one. But luck was not always on his side.  In a hail of incoming fire, shrapnel cut through his flesh and he paid a price for freedom that day. But thankfully it was not the ultimate price. Awarded a Purple Heart, he was thanked for his sacrifice and was again asked to pass the ammo. Inevitably, the war came to an end. In this case victory was really never won by either side.

Since this was not a popular war, there was no one there to greet him when he came home. His country had shunned him, his wife had betrayed him, his friends, those that were not left behind, had forgotten him. The Regular Joe knew that he would never be considered a hero. He knew that protesters reviled him, and that in the streets of the country he loved, they burned the flag that represents the freedom he sacrificed so much to protect. At first, all this infuriated him and he berated those that would protest him.

But then the Regular Joe smiled. It did not matter that no one came to greet him. It did not matter that the People burned flags in the street. It also did not matter that people reviled him and consider him and those he fought with, barbarians. This regular Joe could hold his head up high because he knows what many of those that protested him forgot. The only reason that the People had the Freedom to protest in the streets, was because he and millions of other Regular Joes just like him, protected that freedom, regardless of the sacrifice.

This Regular Joe knew that what he went to Vietnam to do was to protect the rights of the protesters and provide them with the Liberty to despise him so. He knew that he had defended Freedom so that anyone in this country could express freely and without fear of retribution, whatever they believed, even if it was something he did not agree with. For this Regular Joe knows that no person nor country can truly be free unless we ourselves are willing to accept those that we disagree with and who are different from us. The Regular Joe knows that the most honorable thing he could ever have done, was to have fought for and protected the freedom of someone he does not even know.

With the war behind him the Regular Joe continues to serve. He and his like stand watch over our shores and keep the Torch of Liberty burning lest it be snuffed out. He rebuilds his life, after all, he still has four boys to bring up. As is typical today, the Regular Joe remarries and does the best he can to get a piece of the American Dream. After many years he leaves the Army, and like so many millions of service people before him, he just fades away.

But his legacy lives on, three of his sons and two step sons, also became Regular Joes. Two followed his footstep in the Army, two joined the Marines, and one joined the Navy. Sorry, Air Force, next time. It is this tradition that lives on in this country and keeps us free. And it's not just the sons that are Regular Joes. Many women have scarified every bit as much as men. It's unfortunate that we may never know just how many of us are Regular Joes.