Our military history deserves to be studied

I have been fortunate to witness 73 years of U.S. history, much of which has had our military fighting and dying on foreign shores. This includes my 39-year-old father, with 5-year-old and 6-month-old sons, volunteering the day after Pearl Harbor, to current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. While many memories are of family and work, I have vivid memories of the military involvement between and including World War II and Afghanistan.

I'm conspicuously not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and to my discredit, am not prepared to speak intelligently on the morality of these conflicts. But in my heart, I do know that my family and I are indebted to tens of thousands who are no longer with us and many who are with us as neighbors and their families - a debt we will never be able to repay, but must recognize and honor.

I speak of a history that we must cover in a dialogue with our youth of today; it's an obligation. So hopefully we skip a session or two of “Dancing With The Stars ” and review some of our history. And if there's any doubt about the level of sacrifice, I'd recommend “Give Me Tomorrow” or “With The Old Breed” as a good place to start.

Dan Kiesey

Marion