America is still the greatest country in the world

Written by Joe Pisani
Tuesday, 09 November 2010 22:30

On my desk, buried beneath folders and files, reference books and unpaid bills, is a wrinkled black-and-white photo of my father and his friends, dressed in their army khakis with aviator sunglasses and combat boots, walking down the Champs Elysées, proudly smiling.

They were young American boys away from home for the first time, thousands of miles from the streets of Bridgeport, the corn fields of Nebraska and the rolling hills of West Virginia.

Captured in photo were three boys, triumphant and proud after the liberation of Paris during World War II. Walking beside them is a French woman who is staring quizzically at these boisterous 20-something American liberators.

My father, with a full head of wavy black hair, was just beginning his life, and history sent him to Europe with thousands of other American boys who probably never realized they would ultimately be saving Western Civilization.

These cocky Americans enlisted along with their friends. There was no moral ambiguity in this war. They had a clear understanding of what they had to do, and they did it. In the end, 292,000 of them died.

I pull out that photo every so often, to remind me that despite our flaws, America is still the greatest country in the world. It also reminds me of the men and women who still serve our country, sometimes in morally questionable conflicts. For many of the 755,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the honor of serving is problematic after they return home and have to confront new challenges.

Veterans are hit hard by unemployment, and the jobless rate for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is more than 11% and exceeds 20% for those aged 20 to 24.

Resuming their lives, paying their mortgages, making up for lost wages, dealing with disabilities and emotional problems are a few of the difficulties they encounter. On Veterans Day, we must also remember them.

I put the picture of my father in Paris beside a photo taken when he was in his 70s near the end of his life. His hair is gray, his face is weathered, but his smile is the same.

In his book “D-Day,” historian Stephen Ambrose said of the U.S. forces: “They were citizen-soldiers, not professionals. It was an open question as to whether a democracy could produce young soldiers capable of fighting effectively against the best that Nazi Germany could produce. Hitler was certain the answer was no. ... the Wehrmacht would prevail. Totalitarian fanaticism and discipline would always conquer democratic liberalism and softness. Of that Hitler was sure.”

Describing these young Americans, who were members of the Greatest Generation, he said: “None of them wanted to be part of another war. They wanted to be throwing baseballs, not hand grenades, shooting .22s at rabbits, not M1s at other young men. But when the test came, when freedom had to be fought for or abandoned, they fought. They were the soldiers of democracy ... and to them we owe our freedom.”

God bless America.

Joe Pisani can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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