Ronald Reagan’s finest moment was his solemn meeting at Dover Airforce base of the nearly 250 flag-draped coffins of Marines who lost their lives at the Embassy bombing in Beirut. This honorable moment in history was televised as an expression of national grief. War heroes who make the ultimate sacrifice for the nation belong to all of us, not just the families, until they are given private honors at their final resting place.

Untold tens of thousands of our war heroes are buried round the world; many of their grave sites have understandably never been visited by their family members, yet thousands of visitors attend these sacred sites from Pearl Harbor and Normandy to Okinawa to pay honor to those whose lives were given up in behalf of all generations. Millions will soon be visiting the new World War II Memorial in Washington as solemn testimony of a grateful nation, and though sixty years ago — and not unlike the continual remembrance at the Vietnam Memorial Wall — there still will be tears shed for those who made the supreme sacrifice.

The current practice to treat the war dead as but parcels on the way to final delivery is obscene; it is appropriate to ceremoniously receive and honor the coffins as soon as they arrive on the soil of the United States. Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: April 28, 2004.