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November 11, 2008
Exclusive: Finding Honor
Colonel David F. Bedey (US Army, ret.)
This month all around America and the rest of the world, U.S. Marines are gathering to commemorate the founding of their Corps in 1775. And I had the good fortune to be invited to celebrate the annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball in the small town in western Montana that I call home. My hosts graciously overlooked the fact that I had been a career Army officer; it was enough that we share a bond of fellowship born of military service to our Nation.
It was a small gathering, maybe 50 Marines in all. Most were veterans of the Korean or Vietnam Wars. The oldest had fought at Iwo Jima, the youngest recently in Iraq. More than a few tears could be seen in the eyes of tough men as they remembered fallen comrades. Sadness, yes; but pride, too.
But as I surveyed a sea of graying heads, it dawned on me that attendance at events like this will necessarily dwindle. And we will all be the worse for it because as the number of veterans wanes, so too does the idea of honor.
In America, honor is on the decline in part because its meaning has been forgotten. Honor is about fidelity to America’s founding ideals and about making sacrifices and enduring hardships to preserve those ideals. Honor impels one to take pride in doing his or her duty and to feel shame when that duty is not done.
There can be few better expressions of the meaning of honor than the St. Crispin’s Day speech with which Shakespeare’s Henry V roused his lieutenants before the Battle of Agincourt. Henry closes with
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Veteran’s Day is a time to recall our war dead and to salute those who have served. This Veteran’s Day, let us also think about how to restore honor to our culture. For it is difficult to imagine how America can prevail in the 21st century without citizens of honor.
Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Colonel David Bedey (US Army, ret.) served more than 30 years on active duty with the Army before retiring in July 2008. A veteran of the Persian Gulf War, he served in combat engineer units around the world and spent the last 12 years of his military career on the senior faculty at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He now lives in Montana where he writes on cultural issues.
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