Recently we drove across the country noting the woods, mountains, miles of fields, and windswept ranges. Each area is so different; different landscapes, different people, different dialects, different thoughts and different ways of doing things. 
  
While driving west on I-74 near LeRoy, Illinois, a sign proclaiming this stretch of highway to be the Gaultney Brothers Memorial Highway caught my attention.  Ralph, Leonard, and David Gaultney were three brothers from this small farming community who gave their lives in the service of our country during WWII.  Ralph was on the U.S.S. Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Leonard’s ship was sunk during the Battle of the Solomon Islands and David gave his life in the Battle of Iwo Jima.  While the loss of these three sons and brothers was distinctive, the loss and service of sons and daughters has been shared by the families of the often disparate people of our country.  

From the very beginning of our country, we have been different from each other.  From the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont to the merchant marines of the coast who faced the greatest navy in the world, the backwoods farmers who appeared at Kings Mountain, defeated the British and then melted back into the woods. They were the planters of Virginia, the attorneys and merchants of New England and the women and children who were willing to shoulder the burdens required to “Live Free…”  No one group could establish the freedom they all craved but together freedom came to pass.

Those differences still exist and have caused bitter disputes throughout our history.  Yet again and again we have found that our divergent experiences and capacities are part of our strength. The Gaultney brothers and all those who have stood to defend us didn’t give their lives only for those that they agreed with or those from their small town, they gave their lives for all Americans whatever their thoughts and views, wherever they lived. We remember their sacrifices and understand that it is together, with all our differences, that freedom is still established.