Thanking The Many That Fight For Freedom
Like most Americans, I will never forget where I was that Tuesday morning in September. I was just finishing the 8 a.m. news on KOFO radio in Ottawa and we switched to an ABC broadcast that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center building in New York City.
The events of that day from realizing that our country was under attack, following the threat on the Pentagon and then dealing with the fallout locally are burned into my memory.
And so it was Sunday night, nearly 10 years later. Watching the baseball game on ESPN, the news broke that that US troops had found and killed Osama Bin Laden.
Since that September day in 2001, our world has changed drastically. Suddenly, we were conducting a war on terrorism. We rallied around the troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Patriotism was as high as it had been in decades and Bin Laden was the face of the enemy we pursued.
In the past 10 years, Osawatomie and the surrounding area has sent many of its sons and daughters to be a part of that fight.
My thoughts Sunday night drifted to many local families that waited anxiously for news from a loved one overseas. Many of the reserve troops, which included local law enforcement officers, were called to duty leaving behind families, friends and careers to serve. And many with ties to the area are still in the service today fighting the war on terrorism.
I thought back to the memorial service for Jeffery Mersman, a graduate of Prairie View High School, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2007. The image of his wife draped across the casket sobbing is something that I will never forget. And then just last week, Mason Unruh’s family received the Order of the Purple Heart at a ceremony in Osawatomie, honoring the soldier’s service and ultimate sacrifice to his country.
The news of Bin Laden’s death cannot replace loved ones; it cannot replace soldiers’ lives or the lives of the innocent victims of Sept. 11.
But it is a victory.
So thank you to all those who serve, to the families left at home to worry and pray for safety and to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. The task is not done but the world is a safer place today because of their service.
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