Posted on: Saturday, May 17, 2003

EDITORIAL
Take just a moment to thank our military

Today is Armed Forces Day, a day of recognition that obviously takes on a new perspective in this year of supreme military achievement.

Most years this holiday sees open houses at military installations, where civilians can peer into cockpits and gunsights, and appreciation events in which military families can take in entertainment and food for little or no cost.

This year Armed Forces Day sees hundreds of thousands of our men and women in uniform on the tail end of a successful war against the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and at the beginning of an uncertain period of occupation and nation-building there.

It is a sobering reminder that military service is about far more than war games and shopping at the commissary. Americans are duty-bound to honor the 186 U.S. and British soldiers who have died so far in the war in Iraq, as well as the many who have been wounded or injured.

In addition, of course, thousands of military families have been uprooted and separated.

It was President Harry S. Truman who led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.

On Aug. 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department — the Department of Defense.

Americans must be grateful to all of these brave GIs in harm's way. We wish them good luck and Godspeed.