U.S. Army soldiers during a simulated casualty in Bemowo Piskie, Poland, May 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
U.S. President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are vowing to purge the military of "wokeness" and restore what Hegseth calls a "warrior ethos." But retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling — who served as commander of U.S. Army Europe under former President Barack Obama and is a frequent critic of the second Trump Administration's policies — has a very different view of patriotism. In an article for the conservative website The Bulwark, Hertling looks back on his years of combat and explains why Memorial Day is "deeply personal" to him.
"For those who have attended memorial ceremonies on dusty airfields in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even still Vietnam, or who escorted transfer cases draped in flags, or who listened to bagpipes while rifles stood inverted beside combat boots and helmets under a fading sunset," explains Hertling, a frequent military analyst for MS NOW. "Memorial Day is not abstract patriotism. It is deeply personal."
Hertling continues, "Years ago, during combat operations in Iraq, our 1st Armored Division commander — then-Major General Martin Dempsey — was struggling with something every commander eventually confronts in war. What do you say to soldiers grieving the loss of a close friend who was struck in the prime of his or her life? How do you comfort young men and women carrying the weight of death while still asking them to continue the mission the next morning — or even that same night?"
The former U.S. Army Europe commander notes that Memorial Day didn't become an "official federal holiday" in the United States until 1971, although it existed more than 100 years before that.
Memorial Day started in the late 1860s, honoring Union soldiers who died in the American Civil War.
"Long before it became a three-day weekend," Hertling writes, "it was a day of mourning. And for many who have worn the uniform, it still is…. There is something veterans often struggle to explain to civilians without sounding exclusionary: the bond formed in combat. Most veterans do not believe they are better than those who did not serve. In fact, most deeply respect Americans who contribute to society in countless other ways. But there is something uniquely intimate about serving beside others in dangerous places."
Hertling continues, "It emerges from shared fear, shared exhaustion, shared discomfort, shared responsibility, and shared grief. It comes from understanding that your life may depend entirely on the competence and courage of the person beside you — and theirs on yours. You remember absurd humor in terrible places and exhaustion so deep it became numbness. You remember who shared water, who carried the heavier weapons, who cracked jokes when morale collapsed, and who checked on others first after contact. And you remember who never came home."
