“Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards everyone."
— Pete Seeger
PFC Luciano Martinez is a name on a military grave in the Philippines. He was captured there in 1942, survived three years as a POW in a Japanese prison, and died just before World War II ended in 1945. He is my uncle. I was named in his honor even though I never met him. We are a Gold Star family, because of his sacrifice.
Yes, names on military graves do represent real people like my uncle. They had hopes and dreams similar to those of any other young person. This is something I explained to students in American history classes at Salt Lake City’s Highland High School recently as part of a lesson on the Vietnam War.
I told the students about two of my friends who died as a result of their participation in the war. We met at Highland’s rival, East High School. When we graduated in 1964, we had no idea that four years later we would be soldiers in Vietnam.
Corporal Wayne Feinauer died in early 1969. The Jeep he was riding in as a military policeman hit an IED as he led a convoy. Wayne had married his fiance shortly before being deployed. A Purple Heart was awarded posthumously.
Sergeant Nick Miller was a combat medic with the famed 101st Airborne “Screaming Eagles.” He earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. Nick served during four decades in the U.S. Army. He died in 2022, from Agent Orange ailments. Two years before our 60th high school reunion.
It is military veterans of our Armed Forces like these whom we honor through remembrance on Memorial Day. Soldiers are more than names on stone in a graveyard. They are enshrined in our memories.
SP5 Luciano S. Martinez, Murray
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