Reflection

Learning about the war has deepened our understanding of freedom and sacrifice as something that is earned. The scale of the many lives lost, tens of millions, forced us to see freedom not as a default for common life but as a gift that protected those who believed in something larger than themselves. It also has reshaped our views on sacrifice; not just the heroic moments in the battle, but the everyday quiet lives of soldier families, the medics in direct combat, and ordinary citizens who constantly had to endure uncertainty. If we had a chance to speak to our given soldier, we would thank him for his sacrifice, so we able to live day-to-day. We’d tell him that his story still matters, that his name isn’t lost in time and is still seen as a beacon of light. We’d want him to know that his name never disappeared into a textbook; but that it shaped the way we understand courage. Our most important sources were first-hand accounts like letters, diaries, and documents. These were the most significant because they show the factual documentation since technology was not digitized yet—these were physical copies of the known records. We agreed that the HonorStates.org was the source that gave us the key information we needed. This source gave us his address, rank in the navy, specialty, and more. All of this had redefined gratitude for us in many of ways. Gratitude became less about saying “thank you” and more about living in a way that honors the people who never got a chance. It means that the ordinary moments in today's life: walking freely, speaking openly, dreaming about the future, are privileges that another person's bravery paid for.