The tradition

Valor, service bind us together

We Americans on Memorial Day pause to remember and give thanks to those passed who have served us in our military. There is tradition handed down to our servicemen and servicewomen. The tradition of valor, of loyalties, of serving for a reason we all can relate to: Freedom.

It is the tradition handed down from the heroes we today honor, to those young soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving all over the world today. Tradition is what binds us together.

A young sailor wrote of his experience on Sept. 11, 2001, deployed on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The “Big E,” as it’s known on the fleet, had left the Persian Gulf a week before. Sailors and Marines turned their thoughts to home. Home to our military is their hope and desires. As young sailor Rocky Carr wrote, “we learned of the planes hitting the World Trade Centers, and knew our lives had changed, forever. The commanding officer of the Big E, Capt. James Winnefield Jr., addressed his crew. ‘The president has ordered us back to the Persian Gulf. Shortly afterwards, the huge ship made a port turn with a purpose.’”

The purpose we all know, backed up by the tradition handed down to them by the heroes we remember and celebrate today.

Tradition is also passed down by the naming of our ships. Navy ships carry such names as Iwo Jima, Tarawa, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, and Arkansas. The USS Abraham Lincoln. The USS tradition dictates the pass-down of the heroes we honor and revere today. The USS Michael Monsoor, a Navy SEAL Medal of Honor recipient covering a grenade to save three other Americans. His medal, presented to his parents. The USS Michael Murphy, the Medal of Honor recipient for actions in Operation Red Wing. Navy ships now carry their names. The USS John Hancock, the first name on our Constitution, has his signature on the stern of his ship, the only Navy ship given that honor. Tradition.

The USS Arizona, with its entombed crew still on watch, can know a new USS Arizona will, once again, be in the fleet of the United States Navy. It’s the tradition passed down to men like Rocky Carr, and his resolve. The Big E making a “port turn with resolve.” Those active-duty and reserve military that day also took a “port turn with resolve.” The tradition led us back to the business at hand. Freedom! You hit us, we come to see you.

It was the tradition laid down to us by Doris “Dorie” Miller. A mere cook on a Navy ship because of his race, on Dec. 7, 1941, Miller, a Navy Cross recipient, manned an anti-aircraft gun on the Battleship USS West Virginia, without prior training on a gun mount, and shot down Japanese raiders. A Black American who had tradition passed down to him. The tradition of valor, given to us by those we honor today.

Miller was killed in action in 1943. His legacy to all Black Americans in this country: Tradition for them to follow, a ship named for Doris “Dorie” Miller. We hand down valor, service, and we take a “port turn with resolve.”

The Japanese Americans, with their families in internment camps, volunteered for war efforts against Germany. The most individual awards of any unit in World War II were presented to Japanese Americans. Their tradition, and ours, has been handed down to our young people, spread over this world to keep you and I, in freedom!

It’s the tradition handed down from those we celebrate today that sustains us. The handing down of valor, the handing down of service, the handing down of what it’s supposed to be as an American. We have those we honor today, for the gift of tradition. Their “tradition” makes our young people do a “port turn with resolve.”

We’re Americans. Port turn with resolve. Our tradition dictates us to protect our freedom.

Steve Foster is a Navy veteran who lives in Greenland.