Onalaska Memorial Day Remarks 2021

Good morning family, friends, and those fellow men and women who have answered their Nation's call to service. I am proud to be counted among you today. Especially as we emerge from this pandemic and return to normalcy. To gathering. We are tribal by nature and we gather to commemorate moments of significance so it is right and fitting that one of our first gatherings is today - Memorial Day.

But we gather today to commemorate those not standing with us. Those that didn't come home to communities like this one - exceptional in their respect and love. We gather to commemorate an absence. Something powerful.... missing.

And I can speak to you of statistics. I could think that the weight of memorial day is perhaps best relayed by sharing with you that more than 36,000 military men and women died in the Korean War. That's every man, woman and child in this beautiful town of ours dying. Twice. More than 58 thousand in the Vietnam War. And nearly seven thousand in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I could tell you that someone from Onalaska has fought and died in every armed conflict since the Civil War.

But numbers and the word "military men and women" is clinical, sterile and distant. Most of us have experienced loss. And many of us here have experienced loss in a combat setting. It is anything but sterile. Anything but distant. And the magnitude of that sacrifice is humbling in its power. Soldiers don't fight for a political party or an ideal. They fight for each other. Every one of us here that have lost a buddy, a family member or a friend understand this intense and ever present loss.

Memorial Day recognizes this sacrifice. That our Nation was birthed in the ideas of liberty and self-determination realized through battle and heroism. That we together have confronted evil empires, brutal dictators and have been the foundation of democracy. We the Soldiers that are sent forward and we the community that is involved in the election cycle to ensure our Soldiers are sent forward only when needed and with the requisite support.

And so we can frame today in one of a couple ways. We can focus on that loss. And that's easy to do as brothers and sisters that we loved as only those serving under hostile fire can, were violently taken away from us. From their families. From a vibrant life well-lived. We know their names and even now say them silently. We picture them as they were and as they might have been. Perhaps we wear a bracelet to remember. Perhaps we have a tattoo. The memories may fade, but they never leave. And today, in that frame of mind, can be gut-wrenching. We clasp a silver bracelet on our wrist meant to remind us of our friends, we look into a photograph and beyond pixels into memories of togetherness or visit a cemetery where our loved one rests. Unfairly and prematurely. The peacefulness of the setting belies the turmoil we feel.

There's a guilt. The lottery of combat is decidedly arbitrary. Why did they not come home? Why did we?

Brothers and sisters, there is pain in this path. The original pain and then layers upon layers. It can grip us tightly and fill today with sadness, anger, regret, and pain.

Or.... allow me to offer a different path. We can first celebrate these men and women and then rededicate ourselves to a life worthy of their sacrifice.

I miss and ache for the friends and fellow Soldiers killed in action during my career. I imagine who they would be now as fathers, mothers, athletes and innovators and know that our world is less bright for their absence. Perhaps they are only names carefully etched into a granite slab for many, but to those that knew them, each name is a story, a memory, a life clipped short too early, too suddenly.

But it wouldn't be a proper military speech without quoting General Patton. And he told us, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn those who died. Rather we should thank God such men and women lived.”

So today, my heart swells with pride that such men and women lived. And that we? We were lucky enough to know them. To count them as teammates, family members, friends. People who so loved their country and each other that they placed their lives in danger for them. There are days and times where it feels that this purity and totality of sacrifice is an anachronism, something from a bygone time.

Those we honor today died - not for some abstract cause. For our country. For their teammates. For us here today.

So, ladies and gentlemen, for those of us intimately familiar with today's meaning, let us not today seek the old friend of pain and loss. Would that be what you wanted had the lottery numbers come up differently? We would want celebration, a toast, a barbeque and beer. An honoring of a life well lived and joy in remembrance.

And lets together rededicate ourselves to a life of service. Soldiers have no monopoly on service and indeed in this gathering are nurses, teachers, counselors and many others whose profession is to serve. We honor the memory of our fallen Soldiers most beautifully when we remember, honor, celebrate and then live a life of purpose and service worthy of their sacrifice.

Let us do that today and every Memorial Day.

So today I remember Thai Vue, Tim Price, and Doc. I say their names. I would ask you now, Please say the name out loud of you who remember today.

Thank you. Let our voices carry their names to the heavens where they watch over us and wait for the day of our reunion.

Adlai Stevenson told us that "Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." Today, let us honor and remember. Then, let us enjoy the day with a sense of fulfillment and gratitude - spending the day as our brothers and sisters would want - vibrantly and energetically.

And as we fall asleep tonight, commit ourselves to the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime of service. This is the legacy of those we lost and our duty.

~LTC Erik Archer