Not too many weeks ago I read an AMAC Magazine article titled; "Unending Gratitude: How the 'Honor Flight' Network is Giving Back to America’s Veteran Heroes." As I read the article, I quickly realized there were two groups being recognized. The first, of course, were the Veterans from World War II, Korean Conflict, and Vietnam War. The second includes all the patriotic freedom loving Americans that support the Honor Flights with their time, volunteer efforts, and financial assistance to give proper recognition to the first group!

But the gratitude should be shared with the entire nation as evidenced by one paragraph in this story of our Veterans visiting Washington, D.C. “Then, in an unexpected moment of quiet humanity, a man visiting from Sweden approached the veterans. In halting English, he thanked them for their service, saying it was an honor to meet them and the world owes America an eternal debt for defending liberty.”

I reflected back to when my wife and I first visited the relatively new World War II Memorial In Washington, D.C., maybe a decade ago. Opened in 2004, it has been described as “Through stone architecture and bronze sculptures, the World War II Memorial recognizes the ways Americans served, honors those who fell, and recognizes the victory they achieved to restore freedom and end tyranny around the globe.” Not too many steps into the memorial, I stopped and put my hand on my wife’s shoulder, and with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, shared that the Memorial was for her Dad and mine – for her Dad had been in North Africa near the beginning of the World War and my Dad had been in the South Pacific when Japan finally surrendered to end World War II.

A few minutes later, still within the Memorial, we witnessed a memory for the ages. Two little girls in uniform, probably Girl Scouts but maybe Brownies, carrying a basket of flowers were walking quietly and solemnly about apparently looking for a particular state’s monument. When they found it, they quietly put the basket at the base of the monument, and paused briefly before leaving the area as quietly and solemnly as they had arrived.

The “unending gratitude” expressed in the magazine article needs to be spread over the entire history of the United States, maybe starting with The Mayflower Compact of 1620 where those signing it virtually said the heck with the king - we will rule ourselves. The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 is certainly the singular significant date and is why we celebrate our nation’s semiquincentennial in 2026. It continues today – the day there was noteworthy military action in Venezuela.

Most Americans have recently celebrated Christmas with the birth of the Baby Jesus as the “reason for the season”. For 2026 we need to actively practice an “attitude of gratitude!"