Dear Editor:

When you think of independence, think of the freedoms we still have that allow us to celebrate it more or less as we please, and remember those who paid the most for it. Some of them, or friends of them, will be walking or riding in a parade near you on Friday. The most precious of our veterans, the World War II vets, “The Greatest Generation” (term coined by TV journalist Tom Brokaw), will only be among us for a little while longer. Sixteen million Americans served in World War II, perhaps the darkest chapter in modern history, and fought across five continents and at least three oceans. There are only about 1.5 million of them left now and they're dying at the rate of about 550 per day. One every two minutes. It's estimated that by 2034-36 there will be none left to recount their experiences.

A handful of the bad guys who managed to evade justice back then are also still out there. In fact, one was just apprehended in Pennsylvania only a week ago — an 89-year-old retired tool-maker named Johann Breyer, who allegedly was a guard (and therefore an accomplice) at the infamous Nazi death camp Auschwitz. German authorities and our own CIA continue to work tirelessly around the clock to find the last of these fugitives before it's too late. They feel, as many of us do, that just because these men are old and virtually harmless, this does not mean that they should be allowed to escape justice. Nazis, much more than their Imperial Japanese counterparts, retain a hold on the public's imagination. To this day, they continue to be fodder for action movies and the occasional satirical comedy. Perhaps the reason they remain such durable villains is because of the reality of what they once represented: an incredibly real threat, fascists bent on genocide and world takeover - for real.

Those 16 million Americans and their allies literally saved the world, and we remain very much in their debt. Happy Fourth of July.

Tom T. Jones
Wiscasset