Veterans on Sacrifice and Love of Country

Veterans of 4 different wars talk about what service and patriotism mean to them

Jim Fullem, who was drafted into the Army in 1961, during the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Quantico National Cemetery in Virgina on May 28, 2012. Lance Cpl. Emmanuel Ramos/U.S. Marine Corps

On a regular basis, men, who are often in their 90s, will wake up at four or five in the morning, tired but expectant, to go on a one-day Honor Flight to visit the World War II and Korean War memorials in Washington, D.C.

Larry Shaver, a Vietnam veteran, said that when they return, “You see this gleam in their eye, you see this rejuvenation, and you can look in their souls in their eyes and see the patriotism—why these men and women went into the wars in the first place.”

It’s that same gleam, Shaver said, that men have in battle when they are scared to death, but realize things are not about them anymore. They realize what matters is “keeping my buddy beside me alive, and keeping that flag that flies above me on the beach and not letting it fall, because once it falls we’ve lost everything.”

Most veterans have had life-changing experiences that make them feel separated from others when they first return from war. Most have witnessed the horrors of war. Many have lost friends. Some return wounded physically, and some have wounds on the inside, to their souls, that make daily life a constant struggle. And some—especially those who fought in Vietnam—returned home only to be spat on and criticized. But despite all the terrible realities that war brings, Shaver and many other veterans look back and are glad for their service.

D.R. Howe treats the wounds of Private First Class D.A. Crum, "H" Company, 2nd Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, During Operation Hue City in Vietnam on Feb. 6, 1968. National Archives/AFP/Getty Images