When my father was a child, there were still Civil War veterans alive in America. He knew one. When the civil war veteran Dad knew was a child, there were revolutionary war veterans still alive, and his grandfather was one. One generation to the next, there have been wars, to free us, to free parts of our population, to keep us free, to keep others free.

Every war Americans have fought, they have fought for freedom. Freedom, to Americans, is a concept of inestimable value.

Value yours today.

Happy Birthday, most wondrous of countries, most wondrous of peoples.