Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: We didn’t start this war

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 4:07 a.m.

THIS WEEKEND we celebrate Memorial Day and recall the lives of those who were important to us. Although special thoughts are given to those who served our nation in the military, it is also a time to decorate the graves of all family members.

Last weekend was Armed Forces Day and it received little notice. At least this weekend received a good send-off by the Durango High School Air Force Junior ROTC that put on a special program honoring veterans of World War II. Although our nation was attacked less than nine months ago and coffins draped with Old Glory are still coming home, it appears that Americans have returned to thinking more about themselves than their neighbors and country. Unless a family member has been called up for active duty, there seems to be little interest in what is happening in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Remember last September and October when American flags flew in front of almost every house and from many cars? We knew that we had been hurt and were angry with those who hurt us and those who helped them deliver the attack. The rhetoric was strong and the patriotic songs were numerous as our nation geared up to root out those who threaten our existence as a free nation.

The America I knew following the attack on Pearl Harbor was angry, and patriotic pride surged to the front. Those were the days a great country was still struggling with soup lines and a lingering economic depression that had reached unbelievable depths during the prior decade. Our country entered WW II with the goal of defeating Germany and Japan and gave no thought of letting up until the job was done. It took four years and everybody participated. Gold Stars in windows in every farming community and big city reflected the cost in lives. Men were drafted for military service and left for combat that kept them overseas for the entire war. Bodies of those killed in action were buried on foreign shores until they could be brought home after a complete victory.

Our next big war came five years later and it was fought in a country few Americans knew. North Korea had attacked South Korea and not the United States, so there was no anger in our homes and on our streets. Nevertheless, it was a war in which we had a philosophical stake and it was fought by Americans in freezing, snow-covered mountains and stinking, hot rice paddies. More than 37,000 Americans were killed fighting in Korea. But it was a war that WW II veterans didn't want and neither did a nation that was climbing to new levels of power and wealth. Veterans returning from Korea were asked where they had been, and when they responded, the conversation would turn to the new family car or home decoration.

A few years later we entered into the Vietnam War, which produced internal problems with some Americans dodging the military draft and demonstrating against it in the streets. Despite these problems, Americans went to war and again gave the lives of thousands of our finest young people. It was a war that television brought into our living rooms every night and wasn't hidden from sight like past major wars. Along with these live-action shots often came negative commentary by the reporters, who evidently didn't want to be there either. In Vietnam our troops fought well, as they had in Korea and WW II, but they received little support from our politicians and the nation as a whole.

Millions of Americans who fought those wars are in graves today. There will be even more graves filled during the coming years as our nation takes on the challenge of a most devious enemy spread over the world. This war has just begun and it will be every bit as brutal and last longer than any of the past wars.

So last week was Armed Forces Day and this is Memorial Day weekend. Are a majority of our citizens going to just shrug it off as another vacation day? Probably, because, with the exception of families with members in military service, more concern appears to be shown about stock market gains and our return to the prosperous life enjoyed for so many years.

This isn't what thousands of local veterans will be thinking. They have memories of those who died so that the rest of us could live. Their numbers get fewer every day as they join their comrades in death. Will the nation they leave behind have the strength and determination needed to stop more attacks and win this war? The war against terrorists isn't one we can afford to have end in a stalemate or loss.