The Prairie City Cemetery has been decorated with American flags for Memorial Day. (Blue Mountain Eagle, stock)

You’ve remembered the charcoal, the food and plans for the long weekend — but did you remember the sacrifice Memorial Day highlights?

Unlike Veteran’s Day, which honors all veterans; Memorial Day is set aside specifically for those men and women who lost their lives defending the freedoms and way-of-life we hold so dear. Over the past 248 years, the wars we’ve fought were won due to the willingness of brave men and women to take lives and surrender their own if necessary.

Whether that was standing up to a king in 1770s, defeating fascism in the 1940s, confronting communism in the 1960s or taking the fight to extremist groups in the 2000s; it is safe to say that we would not enjoy the freedoms we have today were it not for the men and women whose lives paid for them.

Memorial Day often is filled with celebrations, good food and good company; all of which is only possible due to the victories and sacrifices of those who came before us. While it is good to celebrate, Memorial Day also serves as a day of reverence and respect for those whose lives construct the very foundation our freedoms are built upon.

The men and women who died in the line of duty often did so in a far away land, fighting those who would strip us of our freedoms abroad so we wouldn’t have to fight them at home. They represent the bravest and the best of us.

As a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I was fortunate and did not lose anybody in my unit during our 15 month deployment. I did have people I served with die in subsequent deployments or after returning to civilian life, however.

I think about those people and wonder whether I am making the most of the freedoms they fought to preserve. That in my opinion is the only true way to honor them.

In remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice, I think it is important to also remember those who have been left behind as a result of that sacrifice. Husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and friends for whom Memorial Day is everyday and not simply the last Monday in the month of May.

Remember them, all of them and remember their sacrifice.