Editorial: Honoring our fallen soldiers

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 3:47 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

May 29 - 30, 2004

On Wednesday 50 Nevada Army National Guard soldiers returned home from a year of duty in Kuwait and Iraq. Members of the Henderson-based 777th Engineer Utilities Team, which had been gone for a year, were met by friends and family members, many of whom were overcome with emotion when seeing them. Seven other soldiers, who sustained minor, noncombat injuries, had to stay in Fort Lewis, Ga., for additional care and won't be home for several weeks. "My new job is getting to know my kids again," Spc. Justin Angell told the Sun's Jace Radke. "It feels good to be home."

We're glad that no one from the 777th Engineer Utilities Team, which worked on hundreds of construction projects in Iraq, sustained any serious injuries. But as we prepare to observe Memorial Day, the reality is that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are exacting a heavy price. Thousands of U.S. soldiers have been seriously wounded and in Iraq alone 800 have died. Memorial Day, which honors our war dead, is particularly poignant this year.

The war in Iraq has been controversial, principally because the driving reason that the president gave for invading the country -- that Iraq posed a threat to the region and to the United States because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction -- has turned out to be based on false information. No stockpiles of WMD have been discovered a year after Saddam was toppled. Nonetheless, we have nothing but admiration for our troops who have been trying to overcome incredible odds in bringing peace and stability to Iraq.

Memorial Day is a time, too, when we remember all those men and women who died in previous wars, the soldiers who fought for democracy and to preserve our freedoms. This year there has been more focus on those troops who died in World War II, since a long overdue memorial to those fallen soldiers officially opens this weekend in Washington. We owe an incredible debt to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending this great country of ours.