The Price of Freedom—A Veteran’s Warning to the Next Generation
- Rich Washburn
- May 26
- 2 min read
Every Memorial Day, I’m reminded of why we answer the call to serve—and the cost that comes with it. But lately, I worry for the generation coming up behind us. Too many schools today gloss over the real history of our nation’s sacrifices. They seem to forget that freedom isn’t free.
Imagine a country where children learn only about sterile dates and vague “wars,” never hearing the stories of fathers, grandfathers, and uncles who fought under blazing skies to secure our liberties. In some corners of the world, people live on little more than fish heads and rice, under governments that dictate what they can say or dream. They work seven days a week, sixteen hours a day, with no freedom of speech, no choice in their careers, no pursuit of happiness—just survival. That is not America.
We were founded on three simple, radical ideas: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. These aren’t just words on a plaque—they’re a promise. A promise sealed by the blood of those who stormed the beaches of Normandy, who trudged through the rice paddies of Korea, and who stood watch in deserts and jungles around the globe.
Today, fewer than 100,000 World War II veterans remain among us, according to the National WWII Museum’s 2024 projection, and roughly one million Korean War vets are still with us—but that number dwindles every day. Each of those survivors carries a living memory of sacrifice. When we fail to teach our young people the real price of freedom, we risk losing not just history, but our future.
So this Memorial Day, I implore you: take a moment to learn the stories behind our flag. Talk to a veteran, visit a memorial, read a firsthand account. Remind yourself—and the next generation—what it truly means when we say, “Some gave some, some gave all.” Because if we forget, we give up our right to be that shining city on a hill, and we risk trading our freedoms for a life no better than those who have so bravely fought for ours.
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