On Monday we will celebrate Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor all American soldiers who did not come home from their battles. It is an honor well deserved. The young men and women who fought and died for this country deserve our thanks. Many of them were probably not eager to go to a foreign country and risk their lives. Some were surely concerned only with peace and love before it became their time to serve. But democracy, freedom and the American Way meant more to them than their doubts or fears, and they accepted the challenge.

They accepted for their children and those they would never have. They accepted it for my children and for your children. They accepted it for all of America’s children, down through the ages they would never see.

The Daily News celebrates their courage. We salute their youth and vitality. We salute their resolve. We celebrate their commitment, and their strength. We celebrate their mothers and fathers and their children, born and unborn.

We honor them for serving this country. And we owe it to them to continue to keep America true to the ideals of freedom, inclusiveness, and equality for all.