[Rufii]

That poem is a wonderful tribute to the men who put themselves into harms way to fight for our independence.

However, I find it odd that we devote so much attention to commemorating military defeats. Besides Bunker Hill, we commemorate Pearl Harbor Day; the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001 is now Patriots Day, and each winter, we remember the Alamo.

I would like to see us devote more effort to commemorating our military victories--like Yorktown, Derna, Lake Champlain, Chapultepec, Manila Bay, Château Thierry, the Philippine Sea and Grenada.

[katana]

It is a little odd. Most countries celebrate victories while we remember our sacrificial dead. At least in Texas San Jacinto Day is celebrated as much or more than the Alamo. In the Revolution except for Saratoga, Trenton, Cow Pens, King's Mountain, and Yorktown, most of the battles were American defeats or near defeats followed by tactical withdrawals.

Maybe winning is cause for parades in the immediate aftermath but later we settle down and focus on the cost and those who faced the heaviest odds and aren't around for the festivities. After all, we were fighting the then military super power of the planet. So we commemorate the men who were willing to face those overwhelming odds knowing that their likely reward was a half yard of cold English steel through the gut.