Remembering Alan Rogers on Memorial Day
Today on Memorial Day, we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, those brave men and women of our armed forces who died fighting for the United States of America.
Even as Congress has prevented gay and lesbian Americans from serving openly in the military, many have continued to serve — and many have died for — our nation. A reader alerted me to Sharon Alexander’s touching tribute to her friend Army Major Alan Rogers, killed in Iraq by and IED earlier this year
In dying, he became a hero, shielding two others from the blast, saving their lives.
Today we honor all those who made the ultimate sacrifice. When we look at the life of just one individual who gave all for his country, we realize what that “all” represents. Ordained a minister at age 18, Rogers “served as Treasurer of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER)” and worked with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), an organization committed to repealing the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT) policy which prevented him (and other gay men and lesbians) from serving openly.
Alan Rogers is one of a great many who died for our freedom. And one of many who happened to be gay.
On this day, let us remember Alan Rogers, one face of the hundreds of thousands of fallen heroes we honor day.
1 Comment »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
[...] STORY - Remembering Alan Rogers on Memorial Day - [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » The Final Words of an American Hero — August 5, 2008 @ 7:10 am - August 5, 2008