Memorial Day reflections

Saving Private Ryan came out in theaters in 1998 but it remains a powerful movie, not just for its prominent place in the film industry, but because of its lasting tribute to American citizens who fought in World War II.

Some of them fought bravely and survived. Others fought just as bravely but lost their lives to help secure victory.

And remembering such sacrifices is a part of what Memorial Day is all about.

One scene stirs great empathy as it establishes the essence of the story.

General George C. Marshall, the United States Army Chief of Staff, read a gripping letter from the past that was written to a mother who had lost five sons in war.

"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine," the letter says, "that would attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln."

The Ryan family had lost three sons in the war effort and General Marshall was not going to allow them to lose the fourth. A squad was sent to find Ryan and get him out of the fight so he could go home.

The soldiers in the squad struggled with whether it was fair for them to put their lives on the line so someone they didn't even know could leave the war and return to his family. They resented being on such a mission, but were doing their best to do their duty and follow orders.

The leader of the squad, Captain John H. Miller (played by Tom Hanks), tried to make sense of the mission for himself, and for those under his command.

"I don't know anything about Ryan," he said at one point in the movie. "I don't care. The man means nothing to me. It's just a name. But if... You know if going to Ramelle and finding him so that he can go home. If that earns me the right to get back to my wife, then that's my mission."

When they found Private Ryan (portrayed by Matt Damon), he too struggled with the idea of getting to go home. As a paratrooper in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, he felt it was his duty to stay with his brothers-in-arms and help them fight.

"It doesn't make any sense sir," he said to Captain Miller. "Why? Why do I deserve to go? Why not any of these guys? They all fought just as hard as me."

Miller asked him, "Is that what they're supposed to tell your mother when they send her another folded American flag?"

"Tell her," Ryan said, "that when you found me I was here and I was with the only brothers that I have left and that there was no way I was gonna desert them. I think she'll understand that. There's no way I'm leaving this bridge."

So what is Captain Miller to do? His squad has located Ryan and their orders are to usher him back to safety so he can go home.

But as soldiers they were also obligated to fight to help bring an end to the war. How the moral dilemmas are resolved makes for some powerful final scenes.

The squad's Sergeant Mike Horvath (played by actor Tom Sizemore) contemplated the situation as he spoke to his captain.

"I don't know," he said. "Part of me thinks the kid's right. He asks what he's done to deserve this. He wants to stay here, fine. Let's leave him and go home. But then another part of me thinks, that if by some miracle we stay, then actually make it out of here, someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this ..."

A movie like Saving Private Ryan is of value for much more than the entertainment it brings. It is the kind of story that also causes us to contemplate the appropriate resolution of a situation. And in an even larger sense is the idea that war is one big moral dilemma from beginning to end.

What justifies a country sending its own citizens into a fight? At what point is a cause worth it? Nations struggle with these questions and leaders agonize over such decisions.

But as long as a dangerous, difficult, and imperfect world is inhabited by imperfect people, wars will emerge. Brave souls will have to face the horrors that come and many of them will die. And the rest of us cannot even philosophically begin to grasp the implications of it all.

One can, however, remember and honor those who served. Questions will always abound about moral obligations and the rightness of a war. But there really shouldn't be any question about being thankful in our hearts for the thousands and thousands of fellow Americans who did their military duty as best as they knew how.

Saving Private Ryan gives us much to think about, and can help us appreciate the sacrifices of those who have seen war in intimate detail. But on Memorial Day, we know in our hearts how to commemorate our heroes, with or without the aid of an insightful movie.

-- David Wilson, EdD, of Springdale, is a writer, consultant and presenter, who grew up in Arkansas but worked 27 years in education in Missouri. You may e-mail him at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 05/24/2017