On page 12 of this week’s newspaper, there is the story of local veterans donating their time and talents to help restore the USS Cassin Young.
We want to publicly thank these volunteers for doing this work. We know that given the tight budget constraints as well as the ever increasing need of tax dollars to help just maintain an ever shrinking safety net that repairs to an old destroyer would be put off to the point of where officials would just sink the old ship — almost the fate of our USS Constitution.
What is important is not the fact that this was a ship that was used in both World War II and Korean War, but the fact that men served and died on this ship that helped protect the liberties that we enjoy today.
The USS Cassin Young and many of the other battleships of previous wars that are on display throughout the country are a tangible reminder of the human cost of war.
Today, unlike many of our previous wars, like the Civil War, a smaller percentage of families are personally affected by the high cost of war.
We hope that the stories of just ordinary citizens who served on the USS Cassin Young and who did extraordinary deeds in the heat of battle will continue to remind an ever-increasing removed population of the terrible cost of war.