The World War II monument dedicated in Washington, D.C., Saturday is a great honor and memorial to those men who served and died in a war to save the world.

Six decades after that great war, a war in which 400,000 Americans died on battlefields from France to Japan, this &uot;Greatest Generation&uot; finally has acknowledgment for their awesome sacrifice and their awesome achievement.

But it is not just their monument. It belongs to all of us, and should be a reminder to all of us of the incredible debt we owe to a generation of men and women who preserved freedom.

On this Memorial Day, we honor those men and women who have given their lives in America’s wars, from the Revolution to Iraq.

Once called Decoration Day for the practice of decorating veterans’ graves, Memorial Day should be a day to honor those who gave what Abraham Lincoln called the &uot;last full measure of devotion.&uot; It has somehow grown into a day that marks the beginning of summer, a day for stores to hold sales on barbecue grills and beach towels.

But before we begin the celebration, we should take time to remember those men and women who have helped preserve freedom through their service and sacrifice. This morning, the annual Memorial Day march from Vidalia to the National Cemetery will be a large part of that remembrance. We hope many people will take part in that annual event.