Respect, honor and celebrate U.S. Independence Day

I am writing this column on July 4, 2017, and the television in the background carries an endless stream of politicians making speeches where they explain why we should celebrate the birth of American independence. Unfortunately, many of these speeches quickly turn into political speeches calling for celebrations of political parties rather than our nation.

If you visit a national cemetery you will undoubtedly be moved by the rows upon rows of identical headstones. Aside from the veteran's name and branch of military service, we can also see the veteran's rank and what awards he or she received. A small symbol of the veteran's religion is at the top of the headstone, but one piece of personal information is missing. There are no symbols or words to indicate the veteran's political affiliation. While the number of active duty and veterans' graves in these cemeteries is huge, remember that the smaller private cemeteries throughout the nation hold even more of these veterans' graves.

The government-supplied headstones on these graves carry no political affiliations, because the veteran is not seen as a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or other political partisan. The veteran is also not recognized as having been a conservative or a liberal nor do they indicate whether the veteran died in combat, from disease or from accident. They simply carry the recognition of having honorably served the nation in military service.

Just as political information is missing from the veterans' headstones, it should also not be part of our celebrations of the freedoms these veterans fought for or guarded. Independence Day should honor our 4,726,034 (VA estimates) military and veteran dead with celebrations of what these brave men and woman stood for. Enjoy the holiday and every day with gratitude for those who served.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.