(This was originally posted for Memorial Day 2010)

Many men of my generation pause during the last weekend in May to remember our Viet Nam-era friends and colleagues who lost their lives in the war of our youth. My memory today and every Memorial Day is of my friend Jim Masters, an intelligence officer in the Navy who died when his plane was shot down near De Nang.

Jim and I reported for duty at the Atsugi Naval Air Station in Japan on the same day in December of 1967. He was married but his wife Becky wouldn’t arrive for a few weeks, and my quarters would not be vacant for a couple of months, so we were assigned temporary accommodations in adjoining rooms. We became good friends as we explored the surrounding community together, a friendship that continued after Becky arrived and they moved into married housing. Jim’s squadron alternated between the war zone and our base in Japan, while I was safely ensconced as a member of the air station’s staff. Jim was killed in 1970, shortly after I left the Navy.

In those days I was a 24-year old militarist, believing that America’s war-making power was the world’s only guarantor of peace. While I now believe that there are no winners in war, I continue to hold a deep respect for the military men and women who put their lives on the line each day. I understand the necessity of maintaining a strong military, even while deploring the necessity of its use.

The following is a quotation from a Franklin Roosevelt speech at Arlington Cemetery in November of 1941 to commemorate those who died in World War I. His words, which were delivered two years before my birth, speak to me today.

“We are able today as we were not always able in the past to measure our indebtedness to those who died. A few years ago, even a few months, we questioned, some of us, the sacrifice they had made…. We know now why these men fought to keep our freedom— and why wars that save a people’s liberties are wars worth fighting and winning…

“They did not fight and die to make the world safe for decency and self-respect for five years or ten or maybe twenty. They died to make it safe. And if, by some fault of ours who lived beyond the war, its safety has again been threatened, then the obligation and duty are ours…

“It is our charge now to see to it that the dead shall not have died in vain…this duty we owe, not to ourselves alone, but to the many dead who died to gain our freedom for us and to make the world a place where freedom can live and grow into the ages.”

I eventually came to see the Viet Nam war as wrongheaded, and I opposed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from the beginning. It is my belief that war is almost never a solution, but in the face of violent threats and inherent evil it is sometimes necessary. And while I question the legitimacy and necessity of the two wars that we are now fighting, I do not doubt for a minute that our men and women in uniform are there because they believe fervently that they are fighting for the cause of freedom for their country and for the world. I have always, and always will, honor their bravery, commitment and service.

So today, in memory of Jim Masters, I say a prayer for all those who have served and died for what they believed. And, to borrow from President Roosevelt, it is our charge now to see to it that they didn’t die in vain. Violence as a solution to international differences will not go away because we wish it to, just as it won’t go away because we confront it with violence. And it will not go away because those of us seeking a different path march with protest signs.

Instead of spending our energy and passion on opposing war by marching in the streets, let’s turn our attention to those ingredients that lead to war: poverty, lack of education, hopelessness. Then let’s fight the political fight to ensure that all people in the world have access to adequate food and shelter, decent medical care, a high quality education, and opportunities to earn a living wage.  Only then will we adequately honor the lives of those who have served the cause of freedom.