Welcome to the three martini lunch.

Grab a stole next to Greg Corumbus of Radio America and Jim Garrity of National Review.

Three martini's coming up.

So glad to have you with us for the Monday edition of the three martini lunch.

It's a special day for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, of course, it's

Memorial Day. And I do want to say a few words about that before we get on to our special

edition for the day. Today we observe Memorial Day. We, of course, honor everyone who has

served our nation honorably and those who are currently serving. But Memorial Day is set

aside to honor those who have died in service to our nation.

It is believed about 1.3 million Americans have given their lives for this nation since the start of the American Revolution.

And there are still many, many Americans alive today who remember one of the 405,000 people lost in World War II, more than 36,000

in Korea, more than 58,000 in Vietnam, more than 4,500 in Iraq, and more than 2300 in Afghanistan.

And we honor their families, their friends, and their fellow service members who continue to mourn their loss.

As I've mentioned a few times on this podcast, I also spend a lot of time interviewing veterans

through the American Veterans Center, and those conversations can be heard on the Veterans Chronicles

podcast. And in addition to being odd by the courage of these veterans in battle, I'm most often

moved by their reflections on their friends who did not come home, who gave everything for the

service member fighting to the left and to the right of them and for the freedoms we cherish.

Those heroes remain forever young, and we are forever grateful for their sacrifice.

And today we have a special edition of the podcast, as I mentioned.

Jim Garrity will be back from his trip tomorrow when we'll be back to our usual format.

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