Today we are remembering those who have given their lives in the service of our nation. By one running count, 1,354,664+ American military men and women have died in battle. Whether in the American Revolution or on a recent raid in Yemen, these heroes have given their full measure for our freedom.

As Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “They hover as a cloud of witnesses above our nation.”

Yet the collected tally can sometimes obscure the 1,354,664 individual stories. The price of each life and the pain of those they left behind.

We must remember.