The nonprofit Best Defense Foundation released a tribute to World War II veterans this Memorial Day.
“On this Memorial Day, let us pause and reflect on those who sacrificed everything for this great nation. We are truly indebted to them,” the caption said along with the video.
Best Defense Foundation, founded by former NFL player Donnie Edwards, is a nonprofit organization that focuses on facilitating support and community for veterans and families as they transition to civilian life.
BDF’s motto is, “Take care of the ones who took care of us.”
Each year, the foundation flies World War II veterans back to Europe where they can pay their respects to their fallen brothers and visit the combat zones they once fought in.
“More than 10 decades have passed since those terrible days when we endured the mud … the bitter cold snow and ice in The Ardennes, the dank cellars along the Rhine, the German machine gun fire, the terrible artillery barrages, the constant fighting and killing,” the raspy voice of the narrator says.
“Back home in America, the Western Union telegraph lines hummed with those dreaded messages: ‘The Secretary of War regrets to inform you your son, your husband, your father was killed in action’, bringing tears of sadness to homes across our land,” he continued.
“We come together to honor and remember my comrades. We come to remember and honor the 400,000 American soldiers who died in World War Two,” the narrator added.
“Tears still well in my eyes remembering all of the friends I left on the field of battle, in the towns and cities of Europe, not only on Memorial Day or Veterans Day, but many times every day. Why them and not me? Did somebody else take a bullet intended for me?” he pondered.
“Lord God may we never forget. May this nation never forget the pride of American youth who gave their lives or wounded and captured or went missing. Over 1,500 men are dying every day and soon we all will have left,” he said.
“The Ardennes are silent now — now only memories and the dead.”
