作者：Robert O’Neill(罗伯特·奥尼尔)，前美国海军海豹突击队最知名的“击毙本·拉登的人”。奥尼尔于1996年加入海军，并作为海豹突击队特种兵参与了十几次行动。在不同的战场上完成了400次战斗任务。
中文翻译
不要在阵亡将士纪念日跟我说“祝你快乐”。纪念我们在战斗中为国家牺牲的勇敢的将士们，这是个与快乐无关的事情。阵亡将士纪念日不是庆典。
阵亡将士纪念日是一个反省，沉思，纪念和感恩的日子。那些爱国者们，他们为保护我们所有人的生命和自由——包括那些已故和将要出生的不同时代的人——而牺牲了自己的生命。我们永远不再有机会偿还对他们的亏欠。
阵亡将士纪念日是纪念那些人，他们宁愿为国家献出生命而不是在国歌奏响时屈膝。但是他们同样会为国歌中下跪的人的权利而战斗和牺牲。
这个假期是时候想起年轻人的生命，那些妻子和丈夫变成了寡妇和鳏夫，成长中失去父母的孩子，还有白发人送黑发人的父母。
阵亡将士纪念日是思考从未有过的可能的日子。把自己的国家放在生命之前。没有这些英雄，美国就不会是美国。
不巧的是，对于许多美国人来说，这个庄严的假期的意义不过是个夏日的标志——意味着烧烤季节的非正式开始，在海边度假，在棒球场和高尔夫球场消遣时光，远足和享受户外活动。所有这些都很棒——我们都很享受它们，这些是美好生活的一部分。
但阵亡将士纪念日不是夏日。这个假日也不是为促进汽车，家具或衣服的销售而创造的。
每逢一个阵亡将士纪念日到来，它的意义比夏季的开始深沉得多。从上一个阵亡将士纪念日以来，又过了一年，在那些年轻男女将士们最后安息的场所，新生绿草已经盖住了他们曾经洒下热血的土壤。他们在阿富汗，伊拉克，叙利亚和许多美国人很少听说过的其他遥远的地方，捍卫我们的国家，并付出年轻的生命。
陆军军士戴维·约翰逊(David Johnson)，军士布莱恩·布莱克(Bryan Black)，一等军士耶利米·约翰逊(Jeremiah Johnson)和军士达斯汀·赖特(Dustin Wright)，在尼日尔的ISIS伏击事件中丧生。许多美国人甚至问道：“我们在尼日尔也有部队？”这些无名的士兵付出了他们的生命来保护你——包括每个正在阅读这些文字的美国人。
思考一下：数百万高中生在毕业季走过礼堂讲台，获得毕业证书。大多数人将继续上大学或工作，但有些人会选择参军服兵役，成为新一代美国战士在全球战争和反恐事业中作战——这场战争始于2001年9月11日的恐怖袭击，美国本土有近3000人丧生。
这些新入职的大多战士——在9/11事件发生时，他们还没有出生，或者只是婴儿——都会在军旅生活中获得新家的感觉。但有些人大概不会有这个机会。但愿我估计错误，但可悲的事实恐怕将是，美国在来年阵亡将士纪念日的死亡人数恐怕将高于今年这个阵亡将士纪念日。
在阵亡将士纪念日，我向在反恐战争中并肩作战过的兄弟姐妹们致敬。我的心与那些失去亲人的家庭同在。实际上，我想起了从美国建国战争初期开始，那些服役和为美国而战的人。我的崇敬献给他们每一个人。
我们很强大，但在战争中，我们任何一个人都可以瞬间变成回忆。只要人类社会存在着，战争似乎就是这个星球上每个社会的普遍经历。
我们如何阻止战争对生命的无情吞噬？我们如何减少美国在战争中的死亡人数和控制其他地方战争的死亡人数？我希望我知道答案。但战线正在绘制和重绘，战争和恐怖袭击一直在继续。武器杀伤力越来强。炸弹变得越来越高端，全世界每天都有更多的生命丧失，导致更多的死亡，更多的愤怒和更多的战争。
有些人对自己的信念非常忠诚，以至于他们会将炸弹绑在身上或者自杀式驾驶飞机撞建筑物。他们还在进行斩首这种酷刑。他们把囚犯烧死。我们如何与他们找到共同点？我们是否有必要试图找到共同点，或者我们干脆毫不客气地为了正义痛击敌人？
我参加了400多场作战任务，比大多数美国人都经历了更多的战争。我能记住的远比可以忘记的多。战争永远不会减少。战争的蔓延速度比火更快，并且像火一样，它一旦出现就具有毁灭性。
作为一个美国人，每当我看到美国将士的尸体盖着国旗被带回家时，我的心都被深深地刺痛。但是，扩展到作为一个人，在世界各地每一次人类相互残杀陷入战争，我的心都会同样被刺痛。
在这个阵亡将士纪念日，我呼吁所有的美国人都要记住那些勇敢地为国家服务而牺牲的海军，陆军，空军，海军陆战队员和海岸警卫队成员以及他们的家人。
我敦促所有美国人加入我的希望和祷告，但愿，世界各地的人们有一天会更多地关注人与人之间的相似，而不是分歧。愿我们将走进战争只是记忆的时代——只是人类过去的一部分，而不是我们的未来。
English
Don’t wish me a happy Memorial Day. There is nothing happy about the loss of the brave men and women of our armed forces who died in combat defending America. Memorial Day is not a celebration.
Memorial Day is a time for reflection, pause, remembrance and thanksgiving for patriots who gave up their own lives to protect the lives and freedom of us all – including the freedom of generations long gone and generations yet unborn. We owe the fallen a debt so enormous that it can never be repaid.
Memorial Day is a time to honor the lives of those who would rather die than take a knee when our national anthem is played. But they will fight and die for the rights of those who kneel.
This holiday is a time to think of young lives cut short, of wives and husbands turned into widows and widowers, of children growing up without a father or mother, of parents burying their children.
Memorial Day is a time to think of might have beens that never were. Of brave Americans who put their country before themselves. Without these heroes, America would not be America.
Unfortunately, for many Americans this solemn holiday might as well be called Summer Day – marking the unofficial start of the season of barbecues, days at the beach, time spent on baseball fields and golf courses, hiking and enjoying the great the outdoors. All those things are great – we all appreciate them and they are some of the best things in life.
But Memorial Day is not Summer Day. Nor was the holiday created as a way to promote sales of cars, furniture or clothes.
Another Memorial Day brings with it a whole lot more than the start of summer. Since last Memorial Day, grass is now growing above the final resting places of many young men and women whose lives were taken too soon while defending our country in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other far-off places many Americans have rarely heard of.
When Army Sgt. La David Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright were killed last October in an ISIS ambush in Niger, many Americans asked: We have troops in Niger? These unknown soldiers lost their lives protecting you – every one of you reading these words.
Think about this: Millions of high-school seniors are walking across auditorium stages this season, receiving their diplomas. Most will go on to college or jobs, but some will choose a career of military service, joining the second generation of American warriors fighting in the Global War on Terror – a war that began with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that took the lives of almost 3,000 people in our homeland.
Most of these new recruits – who were not even born or who were just infants when the 9/11 attacks took place – will make it home just fine. But some will not. I pray that I am wrong, but the sad truth is that the number of American war dead on Memorial Day in 2019 will be higher than it is on this Memorial Day.
On Memorial Day, I salute my brothers and sisters-in-arms who have served beside me in War on Terror. My heart especially goes out to the families of those who did not return home. In fact, I think about all those who served and those who have given their lives fighting for America from our county’s earliest days in the Revolutionary War. They all have my gratitude.
We think we are strong, but in war any of us can be turned into just a memory in an instant. And war seems to have been the universal experience of just about every society on the planet at one time or another, for as long as there have been human societies.
How do we stop the wars resulting in such tragic waste of lives? How do we stop the number of American war dead and war dead in other nations from growing? I wish I knew the answer. But battle lines are being drawn and redrawn, and wars and terrorist attacks just keep going on and on. Weapons are getting bigger. Bombs are becoming smarter and more lives are being lost every day all over the world, leading to more death, more anger and more war.
Some are so loyal to their cause that they strap bombs on their bodies or fly passenger jets into buildings. They conduct beheadings. They set prisoners on fire. How do we find common ground with them? Do we even try to find common ground, or do we finally take the gloves off and start landing punches intended to take our enemy out for good?
I’ve been on over 400 Army combat missions and have seen more war than most Americans. More than I care to remember, but cannot forget. There is never a shortage of war. War spreads faster than fire and like fire it leaves destruction in its wake.
It hurts my heart as an American every time I see another service member’s body being brought home draped in an American flag. But it hurts my heart as a human being with every act of war we are all unleashing against each other around the world.
This Memorial Day, I urge all Americans to remember all the fallen sailors, soldiers, airmen, Marines and Coast Guard members who have so bravely served our country, as well as their families.
And I urge all Americans to join me in the hope and prayer that somehow, someday people around the world will focus more on our similarities than our differences and that we will move closer to a time when war is just a memory – part of our past but not our future.
Robert O’Neill is a Fox News contributor and ex-Navy SEAL best known as “the man who killed Usama bin Laden.” O’Neill joined the Navy in 1996 and deployed as a SEAL more than a dozen times, participating in more than 400 combat missions across four different theaters of war.
