This letter to Mr. Wise Guy was broadcast on Saturday, May 29 –Memorial Day weekend.

Mr. Wise Guy,

Remember me? Oh, I know I look a lot different now that I did 65 or 70 years ago. Back then, I was dark haired and strong, I was blond and chubby, I was Italian and swarthy. I was black and second class in the eyes of many. I was a white and Southern and dumb as a stump. I was Polish from Chicago and Jewish from New York. I was seventeen and scared to death – and ready to fight any SOB that wanted some of me.

I waded ashore on Iwo Jima – Kwajalein – Leyte- Attu- Kiska – Bataan – and a hundred other beaches no one had ever heard of. I died on Normandy’s beaches and in France’s fields and cities. I buried friends in German forests and left friends unburied in our push to whip the Nazis.

I stood on burning decks at Pearl and cursed the Japanese. I hunted German warships from submarines and dropped bombs that forever changed the course of history.

I fought Communists in Korea and in Viet Nam. I rotted in jungles and they rotted me. I killed little yellow soldiers from China and Japan and Korea and Thailand and Laos. I came home to a nation divided and I bore the much of the anger that we felt with ourselves.

I fought in Grenada and Bosnia and Kosovo. I have seen butchery and horror that I cannot describe. I have seen hunger and pain and suffering beyond belief. I cannot explain it to those who have n seen it too – and I need not explain it to those who have.

I have fought one war in the Middle East, and I am fighting another. I am different now – I am black and equal – I am female and far from the children I bore – I am better educated and trained than any other soldier in the history of warfare. There is no one on this planet who can stand face to face with me and prevail.

We keep in touch from the battlefield now – electronic wizardry has replaced mail call in many ways, but not all. You can’t fold an e-mail or a tweet in your fatigue pocket for luck. We are fathers and mothers – all colors and creeds. We still come from everywhere in America – we are America – and we fight for her everyday.

We ask just two things in return. Remember us for our willingness to stand in harm’s way for our country. And at least be willing to do the same in your own way. We understand our purpose, we understand our place in preserving this greatest of human experiments – liberty and justice for all.

We also understand that our efforts are crucial but not sufficient. We cannot fight apathy – we cannot fight acquiescence – we cannot combat the surrender of our own people to our own government. We are far from home but we can see what takes place there. We watch as freedom withers from disinterest and distraction, even as we die and battle to bring it to life here in these deserts.

I am the American fighting man – and no one has ever defeated me but my own leaders. No tanks – no artillery – no jet fighter has ever turned me back from my objective. Do not let my government do so now.

Thousands have died on foreign soil over the centuries, but those who returned home could at least recognize the place they had fought to protect. Don’t I deserve that same reward – just to return to a free land?

Is that too much to ask for all I have given – and all I will give again?

Signed, G I Joe

Hello, hero.

No, that is not too much to ask. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for you to ask too much in return for your service and sacrifice. A time is upon our nation when we must honor our fighting men and women, not just with flags and parades and pats on the back, but with a reclaiming of our own birthright as free Americans – a turning of the ship of state away from the rocky shores and back into open waters, where we can sail under full sail, free before the wind.

Free to assure our own future – to forge policies and alliances that do not require the constant endangering of our own – that will let them come home to their loved ones and to a grateful nation.

In the meantime, soldier, sailor, airman – thank you and your families for the many blessing of freedom that you secure for us – and for others.