Editorial: On Memorial Day, remember the cost of forever wars

This page applauded President Donald Trump’s move, during his first term, to extricate U.S. Armed Forces from Afghanistan. And we applauded President Joe Biden for making the policy real, with a timeline, to get out of a 20-year war in which most Americans questioned why our young men and women were serving there.

In August 2021, 13 Americans were killed and 15 wounded when a suicide bomb exploded as the U.S. was pulling out of what’s been called one of our “forever wars.” Those Americans were added to the more than 2,500 U.S. military personnel killed in action in Afghanistan.

One thing to say about Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Biden’s policies is that “forever” came to an end. The cost was dear, as it is in any military engagement. But “forever” seems to be back, with the ongoing war against Iran, a war that the president has called a “little diversion” and a “little excursion.” Head-scratching words, to be sure, but also obscene when the war is described in those terms, with at least 13 American service members killed so far.

We’ll mourn them this weekend, and remember their families who have to bear the pain of their loss. Just as we remember all who have died in American uniforms, because they answered the call, as Abraham Lincoln said, and gave “the last full measure of devotion” to their country.

Since the 19th century, a day in late May has been a time when Americans — some of them, anyway — pause from the fuss and bother of daily life and think about something that isn’t easy for most of us to grasp: the willingness of fellow Americans to expose themselves to mortal danger in the service of their country. Their sacrifice is what we must take time to consider and appreciate.

Officially sanctioned ceremonies for remembering the war dead go back at least as far as Homer. In the United States, the tradition has continued every year since 1868, when a military order called for flowers to be placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington.

Americans continue that essential tradition at the crossroads of spring and summer by refusing to forget. Originally called “Decoration Day,” it was created for families to go to cemeteries to clean the graves of their loved ones and plant flowers.

President Barack Obama eulogized those who died in service of their country: “If the fallen could speak to us, what would they say? Would they console us? Perhaps they might say that they were willing to sacrifice all for their country. That while they couldn’t possibly know they would be called to leave this world for another, they were willing to take that chance to save the lives of their brothers and sisters in arms.”

As President George H.W. Bush said one Memorial Day: “Each of the patriots whom we remember on this day was first a beloved son or daughter, a brother or sister, or a spouse, friend and neighbor.”

We’re lucky that the East End doesn’t forget. Across our towns and villages, Memorial Day remains a time to gather with family, friends and neighbors, and to remember.