Among our many reasons for gratitude on this year's Memorial Day, let us please remember the life and death sacrifices made by millions of Americans and their families to save our beloved country and the world from the scourge of fascism.

A generation of Americans both in uniform and on the home front that saved our future from sheer evil. 16 million stepped forward to fight.

@mccaffreyr3 Most poignant memory of my life was walking those beaches in Normandy as a child with my father on the 30th anniversary of D-Day and then the cemeteries with the names of so many fallen soldiers on Crosses and Stars of David dated June 6, 7, and 8. Truly searing.

@mccaffreyr3 @BeschlossDC My uncle Albert Owen Rowe killed July 7 1944. Buried in the Netherlands. Plane was shot down.

@mccaffreyr3 @BeschlossDC Here's my vivid reminder of what Memorial Day is all about. This was my Mom's cousin from Nevada,Ohio and I found it in her B&W photo album. Imagine how many times he dodged bullets and death before his luck ran out.

@mccaffreyr3 And now, sadly, many of the children and grandchildren of those brave Americans are willing to throw it all away for an authoritarian.

My Dad fought in the infantry in Italy. An uncle commanded an infantry Bn in the Bulge. An uncle was in antiaircraft in the Bulge. An uncle served on a torpedoed cruiser in the Pacific. My wife’s dad made 3 combat jumps with the 11th Abn Div. SERVICE.