Anyone who has served has sacrificed, however some unfortunately have died while serving.
Memorial Day is about remembering those we've lost, and honoring them by recalling how they lived.
The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity.
The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that applies today, to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in our nation's wars: "Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men".
This holiday, to me, is about esprit de corps and the bigger picture.
This is about honoring those who sacrificed their lives for the benefit of others.
For those who have lost someone in combat, I want to close with this quote:
"I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom." - Abraham Lincoln