"There is a need to honor the unsung heroes who, while perhaps not confronted with the need to rush into death, nevertheless leave their mark upon society. This includes the generous who sacrifice for others, the honorable whose feats of character are more ridiculed than rewarded, the innocent for whom deliverance comes too late, and the valorous who stand always in proportion to the challenge. Upon these kinds of people depend the security and advancement of civilization. The memory of the virtuous keeps virtue alive in ourselves and the memory of the forces they opposed helps us face the world as it is. Any reward we could offer would be poor compensation if we failed to exemplify in our own lives some portion of the legacy they have bestowed."

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." - John Stuart Mill