The Steelers' Alejandro Villanueva shares the meaning of Memorial Day | SC Featured

this is sa featured this is the power of sports [Music] my name is Alejandro Villanueva I play lift tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers but before I was in the NFL I was a soldier in the United States Army [Music] Memorial Day means different things to different people for those of us who served that meaning is pretty obvious you remember those who were lost who made the ultimate sacrifice I come here to remind myself that I'm one of the lucky ones serving my country was the greatest honor of my life but not everyone gets to come home to their family and loved ones like I did more than 1.1 million American servicemen and women they didn't get to do that to me Memorial Day is about all of them the holiday originated in 1868 when families decorated graves to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War a tradition started to bring healing to a nation after World War one the day became about honoring all Americans lost in Wars and in 1971 the government created the holiday we know today the last Monday in May today decorating graves is not the first thing that comes to mind when most people think of Memorial Day it's about sharing moments of happiness with the people that we love the most our focus is often in what we have and not on what we've lost I suppose it's human nature we want to celebrate life not reflect on death and on this day that's possible because of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice [Music] I could tell you a lot of things about my time in the service what I saw what I learned but I think on Memorial Day the most important thing I can tell you is the story of a soldier I'll never forget a young man a kid really named Jesse Dietrich Jesse was from a small town just outside of Fort Worth Texas he enlisted in the Army when he was 18 to support his infant son we served together in 1st platoon Alpha Company 287 the legendary 10th Mountain Division on the night of August 25th 2011 we were called to interdict some members of the Taliban [Music] we were ambushed Jesse didn't make it he was 20 years old and he left behind a two-year-old son named Kevin so if you do one thing there's Memorial Day think about those who sacrificed think of the 1.1 million in their families and think about my friend Jesse who is buried on the plains of Texas under an oak tree older than the holiday itself and think about the grave that's being decorated today by the son who never got to know his dad you

Channel: ESPN

Views: 132,164

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Id: uqPila1GIh4

Length: 4min 53sec (293 seconds)

Published: Sun May 27 2018