War’s Necessary Sacrifices

Use it Up–Wear it Out–Make it Do!By

John E. Carey
January 30, 2007
This essay appeared in the Washington Times

Three people asked me the same question this week: “If this war is so terrible and so important, how come so few in America are sacrificing?”An older gentleman named Mike asked me the question. Mike recalls World War II and the war in Korea vividly.

He also asked me if I had ever heard of the phrase “Use it Up–Wear it Out–Make it Do!” Mike spoke about his Mom recycling cans that soup and other commodities came home in so that more ships and tanks could be made in support of America’s war effort. He remembers when gasoline was rationed across America. He remembers the town being practically emptied of men as they were called to service. He remembers “Rosie the Riveter,” the nickname that men gave to their ladies as they went off to tough jobs in heavy industries like shipbuilding.

My wife, who is Vietnamese and has seen her share of war and sacrifice frequently asks me a question or points something out from a perspective I had not thought about.

We visited the Civil War battlefield at New Market, Virginia this past weekend. The Battle of New Market was a battle fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during the American Civil War.

Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) fought with the Confederate Army and forced the Union troops to retreat.

In the middle of a film depicting the history of the American situation before and during the battle, the narrator told about the students from VMI, the cadets, some as young as 15 years old, marching 84-mile into war. During one of those days of marching toward battle and for some, death, the cadets had covered 10 miles before noon.

My wife said, loud enough for me to hear, “Who in American will march ten miles before noon today? And who in American that is 15 years old is going to do that? Who is going to march and die the way these young men from VMI did for their country.”

Who indeed, I thought.

The third man to speak to me is a Chinese American named John who grew up in Beijing, China during World War II. He remembers the soldiers who carried the “Rising Sun” flag marching in the land of his birth. He remembers their ugly war against the Chinese.

John came to America after World War II and enlisted in the U.S. Army to pay back the nation that represented liberation to many people across the world. He served in almost every rank in the U.S. Army, from the lowest pay grade to the rank of Colonel. John saw war again during the Korean conflict – but this time he was with the U.S. Army’s Third Infantry Division.

John and I also discussed this issue of sacrifice and how America manages war and how America now supports its soldiers at war.

The point is this: the world is watching America now very closely. And many in the world who would enjoy seeing America fail in its efforts are assessing how much America is willing to give to achieve its objectives.

The price paid by an enemy to defeat America was not the concern of these three that spoke to me this week. They were all wondering about what America is willing to give.

The price paid by America to achieve its war goals seems to be declining.

The Battle of Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863 showed the true hell of war. The total of the killed, wounded and missing during those three days for the Union side was 23,040. The Confederate estimated a loss of between 20,650 and 25,000.

Despite Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg in July, 1863, the nation still had 22 months of bloody Civil War ahead of it. At the end of the Civil War the nation had suffered approximately 630,000 deaths and over 1 million total casualties.

The Battle of Okinawa, fought on the Japanese island of Okinawa was the largest amphibious assault during the Pacific campaigns of World war II. It lasted from late March through June 1945.

At the end of the Battle of Okinawa, the United States had lost 12,513 dead or missing and 38,916 wounded.

American battle deaths in Korea are estimated at 33,741. The Vietnam memorial wall here in Washington D.C. lists the names of 58,195.

We have the greatest love, respect and admiration for every American man and woman who has participated in the global war against terror and in the fighting in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Every life is precious and we mourn the loss of every family impacted by this war.

And nobody is advocating that America should suffer the kinds of horrors of war and death and destruction that have preserved our freedoms in the past. But we do believe that there is a valid question here for all of us to ponder:

“If this war is so terrible and so important, how come so few in America are sacrificing?”

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