Peterson
Op-Ed: Americans Coming Together on Memorial Day
This
spring, communities across the state are holding deployment ceremonies. The
Minnesota National Guard is mobilizing 2,400 troops for a one-year deployment to
support Operation New Dawn (
Iraq
). May they all come home safely.
On this Memorial Day, we continue to be engaged in hostilities in
Iraq
and
Afghanistan
, and men and women will pay the ultimate price while wearing the uniform of our
nation. Let us honor the memory of the 4,400 Americans who have died in
Iraq
, and the more than 1,500 who have died in
Afghanistan
. We also honor the sacrifices of our wounded; 32,000
U.S.
troops in
Iraq
and 11,400 in
Afghanistan
.
Americans come together to remember those who have sacrificed their lives on
behalf of our country in the name of freedom and democracy. The debt owed
to them is immeasurable. Their sacrifices, and those of their military
families, are freedom’s foundation. Without the brave efforts of all the
soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen and their families, our
country would not live so freely.
In the 35 counties that make up
Minnesota
’s Seventh District, we’re home to around 58,000 veterans who have served in
every conflict this country has been in.
So this Memorial Day on this the most sacred day, we pause to reflect on what
has been given and sacrificed. Let us never forget.
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