Memorial Day is Not About Us Who Made It Back. 

It’s about those who joined us on patrols, sweeps, and operations, who huddled with us 

against rockets and mortars, who slipped between the fields of automatic weapons fire, 

and sidestepped the concussive blasts of landmines and booby traps, who hefted our 

dead onto medevacs and continued the fight, who ultimately lost the battle against 

in-country mortality to live on in our reflective memories.

Carl Hitchens – Alpha Co. 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division