By Luther Dorr

Drawing on his experience as a U.S. Marine and as an FBI agent, Memorial Day speaker John Dalziel told his audience that the war on terror didn't start Sept. 11, 2001, as many think.

It began, he said, early on the morning of Oct. 23, 1983, when 241 members of the United States military were killed in a terrorist attack at the airport in Beirut.

Dalziel, after graduating from Princeton High School, was a Marine stationed there at the time and said the attack, just a short ways from where he stood, had a life-altering effect on his life.

He told of searching for the remains of fellow Marines, some he had talked to 30 minutes earlier.

'For the first time, Dalziel said, 'the United States was tracking and hunting small groups of dedicated people with the capability to perpetrate a catastrophic attack, killing thousands and causing multi-millions of dollars in damage.'

Now, as an FBI agent, he said, he's fighting the war on terrorism and his daily mission is the same as it was in the Marines: 'To protect and serve, for God and country.

'We must never forget those American patriots that died, but we also must not live our lives obsessed with the fear of future attacks on American soil.'

He said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks scared nearly everyone but didn't achieve the terrorists' objective because 'that fear translated into a firm resolve to engage and defeat them, If we live in fear, the terrorists win, and all the blood shed on foreign soil . . . will have been shed in vain.'

Dalziel said his two tours in Beirut helped him understand that freedom is not free, and that the fight must go on.

Speaking about those who fought in World War II being called America's greatest generation, Dalziel said he can't wait to see what members of today's military are called.

'They are still enlisting to go fight in a war that is played out each and every evening on the nightly news, and they are fighting the good fight,' he said. 'It is my personal belief that it takes more dedication and patriotism to enlist in the armed forces today.'

He called for Americans, no matter their stand on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to support the men and women 'who put themselves in harm's way each and every day.

'As a nation we should be going out of our way to thank our service people. I recommend that if you are out at a restaurant, at the mall or in the airport, and you see a man or woman in uniform, walk up to them and thank them for what they do on a daily basis.'

Dalziel asked that each person take time on Memorial Day to reflect and remember all members of the United States military who lost their lives fighting for their country.

'They are heroes in every sense of the word,' he said.

In closing, he quoted the lyrics of a Toby Keith song to underscore his point about the cost of freedom and what it means to be a member of the American military.

The final lines of that song:

'I'm an American soldier beside my brothers and my sisters, I will proudly take a stand.

'When liberty's in jeopardy, I will always do what's right.

'I'm out here on the front line.

'Sleep in peace tonight.

'I'm an American soldier.'

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