Wise words may sound contradictory on Memorial Day

Every Memorial Day my thoughts revert to a quote by retired Rear Adm. Gene Larocque of the U.S. Navy, who served during World War II: "For about 20 years after the war, I couldn't look at any film on World War II. It brought back memories I didn't want to keep around. I hated to see how they glorified war. In all those films, people get blown up with their clothes and fall gracefully to the ground. You don't see anybody being blown apart. I hate it when they say, 'He gave his life for his country.' Nobody gives their life for anything. We steal the lives of these kids." Nevertheless, the haunting words of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address also come to mind: "That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Samuel Rosen Newbury Park