Memorial Day

I just finished reading We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young (Moore and Galloway).  It is a firsthand and hour by hour account of the battle of Ia Drang in 1965.  This was the first major battle between U.S. troops and the North Vietnamese army during the Vietnam "conflict".  There were over 230 American soldiers that died and over 240 wounded in a 4 day period.
Our military involvement in the Vietnam war lasted 10 years and cost the lives of over 58,000 young Americans (over 300,000 wounded).
Husbands, Fathers, Brothers, Sons.
War is Hell.

And it humiliated a nation that had never before lost a war.

“No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.” 
Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831)

Every time I read a story about the Vietnam war, I feel bad for how America in general didn't appreciate and mistreated the soldiers and veterans involved, who did their duty on our behalf.  The unpopular war wasn't their fault, but they carried the physical and emotional burdens of it.  I think of them this Memorial Day.
It is unfortunate that war is a reality in a fallen world.  As a Christian I try to be a pacifist.  Yet I recognize the necessity of war in the presence of evil, and I appreciate the freedoms that our military has preserved for me here in America.  And I am grateful for the sacrifice so many have made on my behalf. 
As the saying goes, "all gave some . . . some gave all". 
We should not forget.

I had registered for the draft, and had received a lottery number, but the draft ended the year before I would have been called up.  I was thankful.

And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.
Numbers 10:9,10