Honoring America’s Heroes at Christmas

The holidays provide many opportunities to enjoy the company of loved ones and celebrate special relationships and memories. In so many respects, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

One reason we are able to enjoy this season so much is because we live in a great and free country. But that freedom has never been guaranteed, not at our nation’s founding or even today. It comes at an incredibly high price that none of us can take for granted.

For over two centuries, Americans have fought and died to protect our nation and interests. Their service and sacrifice have allowed us to build an open society with ample opportunity and personal liberty. We can never fully repay the debt we owe these courageous men and women, but that does not mean we should stop trying.

At this time of the year, it is especially important we remember them and reflect on everything they represent.

For active duty servicemembers deployed far from home, we send a particular thank you for answering the call of duty even though it means being separated from family and friends. We are eternally grateful for their dedication and willingness to forfeit that privilege on our behalf.

Another act Americans use to show appreciation for our military community at Christmas is by visiting the cemeteries and burial grounds where fallen warriors now rest. These events take on many different names, but they all serve the same purpose – to demonstrate to their loved ones and ourselves that they are not forgotten.

In Arkansas, we take immense pride in organizing efforts to show our gratitude for them amid this season by adorning their graves with special tokens that are both beautiful and reverent.

Fort Smith’s Christmas Honors began in 2009 and draws hundreds of volunteers to help place Christmas wreaths on over 16,000 headstones at the city’s National Cemetery, including members of my staff who were on hand to share in this month’s moving salute.

In Little Rock, 40 Arkansas National Guard soldiers from Camp Robinson assisted local volunteers this year on the same mission for the graves of unknown servicemembers at the Little Rock National Cemetery.

But Arkansas is not alone in this mission. Since 1992, a national organization dedicated to executing this same tribute continues to grow in awareness and participation. Wreaths Across America exemplifies its motto to “remember, honor and teach,” as more and more people across generations engage with its effort to memorialize our veterans at Christmas. The group is hosting over 40 events in Arkansas this holiday season to mobilize community members to help lay these emblems down among the sacred, final resting place of Natural State heroes who served our country in uniform.

It also encourages us to speak the name of each veteran aloud and thank them for their life and service, keeping their memory alive all year but especially at a time when families and friends long for one last embrace or conversation.

The holidays can bring out the best in us, and one unmistakable sign of that is our commitment to honor our military and veteran communities who make it possible for us to spend time gathering and enjoying special traditions in peace and prosperity. I, along with all Arkansans, am grateful for that precious gift.