Although Memorial Day appears to be about picnics, ballgames and the launch of summer, this holiday is the one day of the year that provides us with the opportunity to pay homage to our fallen warriors. As a nation, it is our opportunity to honor their service, sacrifice and courage, while recalling the selflessness that embodies military service. It is the one day where we can take a moment to reexamine what we are doing as individuals to recognize the legacy of these men and women who died wearing the cloth of the nation. It is a day where we can remember those who gave their lives protecting their country and defending a way of life that they felt was worth the sacrifice.
On June 6, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, one of the largest military assaults in history that turned the tide of World War II and saw approximately 2,500 American fatalities. This is but one of the many groups of honorable Americans who died defending our ideals.
Around the world, allies and foreign friends will pay their respects by visiting our nation’s many cemeteries abroad. Here at home, millions will pay their respects at the 128 national cemeteries that serve as the final resting place of our nation’s most courageous citizens. Words fall short when expressing our gratitude to their grieving families, but we can stand with them, honoring their sacrifice and their loss.
A major way to honor the sacrifice and loss of the fallen is to care for their surviving comrades. I am proud of the employees and volunteers at the VA Maryland Health Care System and the service they provide to the veteran community. The value and importance of their work is evident daily in the faces of the veterans we serve. Our veteran patients demonstrate fierce courage when facing health care challenges at our VA medical centers or outpatient clinics across the state. Their determined faces inspire us all to live up to Abraham Lincoln’s promise, “to care for him who has borne the battle.”
The newest generation of veterans who endured multiple combat tours must battle misperceptions about their military service and myths and stigmas about getting treatment for the residual aftereffects of war. These misconceptions and stigmas often interfere with their smooth transition to civilian life. Added to that are the misconceptions about eligibility for VA health care, which prompts many to not even explore the services available to them.
Friends and family can be important influences to help veterans get the treatment and services they need by reaching out and offering to assist them and treating them with respect — just as you would anyone else — by refusing to define them by their diagnoses or using demeaning labels. Often, veterans themselves are resistant to seeking treatment because doing so runs opposite to their military training; the VA’s Coaching into Care program can help family members and loved ones better interact with returned veterans who are struggling. We want to make sure that veterans and their family members do not wait until a crisis to get help for veterans after they return from military service, especially considering the suicide rates among veterans. We at the VA stand ready to serve our veterans at every stage of their lives.
Throughout history, the task of defending high ideals like life and liberty has fallen to ordinary men and women of extraordinary courage and fortitude. They are our neighbors, friends and family members. Their perseverance and loyalty to a higher calling is central to what and whom we honor each Memorial Day. Let’s remember those who have fallen and the immeasurable good for which they have laid down their lives.
To help veterans who are resistant to care, family members can call VA’s Coaching into Care program at 888-823-7458. Veterans can also enroll for VA health care by calling is 877-222-8387. One of the most significant ways of honoring our fallen heroes is to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain by assisting their living comrades to remain healthy and vibrant.
Dr. Adam M. Robinson Jr. is director of the VA Maryland Health Care System. He can be reached at vamhcspublicrelations@va.gov.