Our Opinion

By: Staff | Orange County Review
Published: May 28, 2009

This spring, as the war in Iraq grinds bloodily on past its six-year anniversary and the war in Afghanistan has passed the seven-year mark, Memorial Day should be anything but an abstract concept.
Americans should, as ever, remember and honor those who have died in our country's service in all our wars, as well as those veterans who are living. Survivors of World War II are still among us, though their ranks are dwindling. So are survivors of the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and of the first Gulf War, and of other 20th century conflicts and "peacekeeping" actions. If you know a veteran, now is a fine time to say “thank you.”
If you have lost a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan, you know the reality of these wars. If you have someone who is at war now, or who might soon be shipped out, you live with anxiety and dread. If you are close to someone who has served and made it home, you know what a toll a deployment - especially prolonged or repeated deployments - can take on the troops and their families.
If, however, like many Americans in this era of the volunteer military, you have not yet been personally touched by these wars, don't let this week go by without thinking about those who have died in your service. The Internet offers several sites that keep track of the war dead. A good place to start is The Washington Post's "Faces of the Fallen" site, which can be found at http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/.
That site simply and succinctly drives home the point that the United States has not lost just "troops." Each of the dead is a person, most often a young person, with a name, a hometown, a story.
As of the middle of last week, there were 4,283 American troops reported killed in Iraq. Another 679 have died in Afghanistan.
We must guard against the tendency to forget that every one of those lives was special. And every one deserves our gratitude and support.
All the troops killed and injured, as well as their families, deserve to be memorialized and honored by their fellow Americans, regardless of their feelings about the war.
This nation is beholden to these troops, just as it’s beholden to all the other troops killed and injured in all its other wars.
We honor Orange County’s honorable men and women who have served valiantly in battle and name those here who have died:
World War I
Daniel Ashby McIntosh, Edward D’oyley Northrop, Bernard E. Verling, Charles R. Clark, Vivian Slaughter, Richard Beadles Todd, Lucian L. Vaughan, Garrett Edward Waugh, Fitzhugh L. Jones, Marion W. Bowler, James Foster, Henry H. Woodville, William Jackson Whitlock, Luther Falls, Charles Henry Brame, Archie Galloway, Andrew Fund and Peter Ellis.
World War II
William McKendree Andrews, William Edwin Beck, General Lee Breeden, Gordon Otto Bryant, William R. Clatterbuck, David Kerr Claude, Roy Franklin Corbin, P. Woodrow Crawford, Louis Sanford Davis, King Jackson Dean, Laurence Dare Deane, Russell Kenneth Ellis, Twyman A. Gilbert, Clifton Lee Gipson, Thomas Ellis Gipson, C. Franklin Grasty, William Breckenridge Grymes, F. Gilbredth Hamilton, Edward Parker Harris, Wallace Edward Hughes, Oscar Jackson, Irwin Johnson, Vance Hite Keeler, Jess C. Lohr, Marvin Ashby Long, Andrew Maples, Jr., William Emmanuel Martin, William Barton Mason, Jr., Servern M. Nottingham, Jr., Ernest Edward Peacher, Robert William Raup, William E. Reynolds, Jr., Edward H. Richardson, Wyatte L. Rones, Raleigh R. Simpson, Robbie W. Smith, Henry Stevenson, Harrison Thompson, Tyrus Heber Tisdale, Hezekiah Turner, John Raymond Wallace, Edward Waller, Jr., George Morgan Waugh and Robert Paul Wiltshire.
Korean War
Wallace M. Arnold, William F. Brown, Roland W. Clatterbuck, John A. Collier, George A. Corbin, Howard T. Jackson and Leonard W. Shipp.
Vietnam War
William Mosby Clarke, Jr., Richard Hirum Estes, Jr., William Edward Fincham, Norman Reynolds Hurst, David Lawrence Napier, Gary Lee Reynolds and Douglas D. Wallace.

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