Shelter Island Reporter editorial: Lest we forget —Sept. 2

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, we wonder how future historians will remember this time. What will they write? What will high school students learn in their classes about America on this anniversary?

The national political discussion is ugly. People at public meetings shout abuse at officials over mask policies, even after more than 630,000 have died from COVID, and elected federal officials continue to make excuses for all the wrongs of the previous administration and shout “impeach him” at the current president’s first serious crisis.

As we honor the 9/11 anniversary, vitriol should be put aside and the national conversation focused on those who serve and have served this country in a long-running war that is now, thankfully, over.

We recently published a page-one story about Islander Zack Mundy, a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan. He summed up his feelings about the news from Afghanistan by saying: “I feel torn in two.” It can’t be said any better.

Every year, in our Memorial Day issue, we publish the names of every Islander killed in America’s wars. We do this because a name is not a statistic, but represents a person who should not be forgotten.

As of April 2, 2,448 U.S. service members had been killed in Afghanistan, in an undeclared war. Last week, 13 more died at the Kabul airport. You may have seen a list of those 13. If you haven’t, here they are:

• Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas

• Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, of Roseville, Calif.

• Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, 31, of Utah

• Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tenn.

• Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, Calif.

• Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo.

• Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

• Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif.

• Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, 23, of Omaha, Neb.

• Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.

• Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind.

• Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, 20, of Wentzville, Mo.

• Navy Hospital Corpsman Max Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio.

Some of these brave men and women were only babies on 9/11, others just toddlers.

Hopefully, as time goes on, we as a country will remain mindful that, as Winston Churchill said of an earlier group of heroes: “Never … was so much owed by so many to so few.”