On November 19, 1863 Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address.  It is unfortunate that too few people understood the significance of what Lincoln said.   If you want to read the full text, here is the link:

http://www.d.umn.edu/~rmaclin/gettysburg-address.html

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. 

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us.

that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain

It is impossible to improve on what Lincoln said, we can only pause to remember how very different this was from what we are hearing today.  I fought in the Vietnam War.  I understand how deeply it hurts when your country decides, after careful reflection, “that it wasn’t worth it after all.”  That is the opposite of what Lincoln had in mind.  It is the opposite of truly honoring sacrifice.  I fear we are making the same mistake today.

The only real way to honor those who have given their lives in combat is to rededicate ourselves to the cause for which they died.  Words of memoriam, without such a commitment are meaningless.

TDM