In a New York Times Memorial Day opinion piece, Phil Klay wrote the following.

“How do you memorialize the dead of a failed war? At Arlington, it’s easy to let your heart swell with pride as you pass certain graves. Here are the heroes that ended slavery. Here are the patriots who defeated fascism. We think of them as inextricably bound up with the cause they gave their life to. The same can’t be said for more morally troubling wars, from the Philippines to Vietnam. And for the dead of my generation’s wars, for the dead I knew, the reasons they died sit awkwardly alongside the honor I owe them.”

I say that Klay writes nonsense!  Who knows the motivations of a soldier who fell in battle?  I doubt that many of them were concerned with the justice or wisdom of the war in which they were engaged.  They responded to their nation’s call to service, and most of them had little choice in the matter. Some died performing a heroic act.  Others died by just being there.

In the final analysis, it matters not when and where and why these fallen heroes served. We should honor them all – the long and the short and the tall.