As a part of our character development program at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Medal of Honor recipients speak to thousands of teachers and students each year. I am often asked what is the most important element of our education system. My answer is patriotism.
A patriot is not someone who says he loves his country; a patriot is someone who proves it by supporting and defending it.
A great example of a patriot is Webster Anderson. Webster lost both legs and one arm in a battle in Vietnam. His heroic actions earned him the Medal of Honor. He was once asked by a young man if, knowing then what he knew now, that it would cost him two legs and an arm, would he do it again. Webster raised his good arm and said: “Kid, I only have one arm left, but my country can have it any time they want.”
This spring, some 3 million students are graduating into the next phase of their lives. Unfortunately, an alarming number of these young Americans are not “extremely proud” to be an American. Something is clearly missing in their education. The highest form of patriotism is service, and that is missing. Our democracy cannot survive if we do not grow patriots.
The symbol the Medal of Honor represents, and its recipients’ experiences, are valuable teaching tools in molding young patriots, teaching them courage (the key to success in life) and sacrifice (the key to happiness in life) as embodied in patriotism.
What better way to teach patriotism than through a National Medal of Honor Museum — a symbol of patriotism, a vault for the values of recipients, of all veterans, who believe life has no meaning unless lived for the benefit of future generations? The museum concept is simple: Inspire and educate through stories like Webster’s.
The museum would focus on the psyche of a young student entering an arena of superheroes wearing dog tags instead of capes. Students will be thrilled with visuals of the selfless grandeur of individual physical courage and sacrifice, the foundation of his freedoms. They will learn that physical courage can win a battle, but moral courage can change the world.
Students will learn that Medal of Honor recipients not only defended our country, they helped design, develop, and enrich it. They will learn that it was a Medal of Honor recipient who first crossed the Atlantic, who first flew in clouds using a gyroscope to open up the skies for all, who founded a great airline, who was the first president of the American Football League, who were great athletes, members of Congress, mayors, journalists, famous actors, governors, generals who fought and won our wars and built our railroads. It was a Medal of Honor recipient who wrote “Taps,” who founded the CIA, and on and on.
Students will see on Mount Rushmore a Medal of Honor recipient, Theodore Roosevelt, who spoke the motto of the museum: “The lives of true heroism are those in which there are no great deeds to look back on, the little things well done go to make up a successful and truly good life.”
Students will walk out of the museum inspired with the conviction that they, too, can be heroes. They will realize that recipients used the same values of courage and sacrifice to excel in combat and also in life. They will learn those same values can be used to excel in their own lives. They will learn that fear is an emotion, but courage is a decision, and that through personal courage and sacrifice, they can be heroes and patriots.
The message of the Medal of Honor Museum is to today’s youth, from those who sacrificed their youth that liberty might grow old, over many years and countless battlefields, over the bodies of millions of dead. The values of courage and sacrifice will lead to an incredible capacity for service to others, to patriotism, and eventually, to the security of America. Peace is the ultimate victory of all warriors, and it is best assured by a country of patriots.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady is a Medal of Honor recipient and a board member for the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation.
