REMEMBERING THE NATION'S HEROES LET WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL BE THE LAST ONE.

Byline: Steve Vlasich Local View

ON this Memorial Day weekend, thousands of veterans, their families and visitors are gathering in Washington, D.C., to attend formal dedication ceremonies of the long-delayed National World War II memorial. The opening ceremonies, which were predicted to draw upward of 800,000 visitors, were scheduled for the long weekend by design because Memorial Day honors the nation's dead, with particular emphasis on those who laid down their lives in defense of America.

That makes this Memorial Day all the more poignant - in remembering not just those who have died, but our collective failure to create a more peaceful world ever since.

World War II took the lives of more than 400,000 young Americans dying on foreign soil, while almost 700,000 Americans were wounded in action. The war's numbers of men killed and wounded represent 50 percent of all casualties in all 11 major wars involving America going back to the Revolutionary War and up to the latest war in Iraq.

While veterans are pleased that the memorial is finally in place, many ask why it took so long. Almost 60 years have passed since two atomic bombs came crashing down on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war in August of 1945. As a result, fewer than 4 million survive of the 16 million who put on the soldier's uniform.

With a mortality rate of 1,000 to 1,500 dying each day, every passing year will see close to a half-million World War II veterans joining their departed comrades. As a result, many veterans feel the delay cheated their dead comrades of the respect they richly deserved.

Part of the delay can be laid to years of inertia and a feeling that there was no urgency. When time began running out for many older veterans, the organizing committee got going, and plans were drawn with input from veterans organizations and government agencies. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, a highly decorated and badly wounded soldier, was named fund-raising chairman, and sponsors raised $193 million to fund the project. Actor Tom Hanks got involved as celebrity spokesman because of his involvement in the film ``Saving Private Ryan,'' appearing in a series of successful fund-raising television spots.

Now, as the memorial opens, it awakens a renewed interest in World War II history that will trigger dormant memories and deep emotions in the minds of those who served America during those tumultuous times. The youngest are now in their late 70s, but they will all remember when they were young soldiers. They will recall a strongly united America that closed ranks after Pearl Harbor because all Americans firmly believed that the original axis of evil - Germany, Italy and Japan - would spell the end of the American dream if not confronted.

They will remember the ache of leaving their homes and families, many for the first time, the joy of a furlough back home and the rigid discipline of military life.

All will remember shipping out for overseas duty, struggling up a steep gangplank with a full load of equipment and a rifle strapped on their backs. Most had never been on an ocean liner before, but their excitement was tempered by the knowledge that deadly German or Japanese submarines could send a torpedo their way to kill them all.

Each will recall the horror of war in their own way, but for the heavy combat soldier, the burden is heaviest, causing scars that are burned deep in the soul.

Mercifully, the war ended in Europe in May of 1945. While we celebrated, our joy was tempered by rumors that we would all be shipped to the Pacific to help end the war there. Fortunately, President Harry Truman had the courage to order use of the atomic bomb against the last holdout, Japan. While debate has raged for years about the morality of that decision, let there be no mistake that it saved thousands of American lives.

This Memorial Day, a recurring sadness will be felt by all veterans when they realize - again - that for all their sacrifice in putting their lives on hold and in harm's way, war is still being waged throughout the world.

World War I was hailed as the ``war to end all wars,'' but it didn't live up to that promise. World War II made no such extravagant claim, but hope flickered briefly that after six years of madness and carnage, there might be at least a prolonged peace. Sadly, the Korean War broke out just five years later. Vietnam was next, followed by a series of skirmishes in hot spots. Sept. 11 was the spark that ignited Afghanistan and then the second chapter of the Iraq war.

When countries failed to settle their problems with diplomacy, a new generation of rockets and bombs followed, leading veterans to sadly conclude that true peace still eludes us and perhaps never will be ours until we die.

On this day of remembrance, let us remember that Memorial Day stands for much more than a day off to go shopping or picnicking. Americans should attend memorial services conducted at local cemeteries and at veterans halls. Let's make it a time to remember the thousands of our countrymen who died so we might live in peace. Young people all, the best of our nation, denied the chance to grow older, so we will never know the depth of love and achievement that they could have given their loved ones and their country.

This year, let's take the time to thank all those who serve today and those who served through thousands of yesterdays. Veterans who know the sorrow of war bear the burden of guilt for our collective failure to create a world where we would insist our political leaders work as hard in the pursuit of peace as young men work in the pursuit of the enemy.

If we one day succeed, maybe the new World War II memorial will be the last one we need to build.

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(color) Pictured above, the new World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. which was dedicated Saturday. The memorial marks the deaths of 400,000 young men in a war two generations ago.

Lauren Burke/Associated Press