By Krista Ralston Oakes
My husband and I have traveled to Washington D.C., visiting the National Mall and taking the sobering steps through memorials that remind us of the price that was paid for the cause of liberty. Among these are the World War II Memorial, with its 4,000 gold stars – each representing 100 U.S. casualties; the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which bears over fifty-eight thousand names of lost or missing American heroes on its granite wall; and the Korean War Veterans Memorial, with the faces of unnamed soldiers near the words, “Freedom is Not Free.”

Nearby is Arlington National Cemetery – our nation’s largest burial ground, which also features the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Our hometown has recently erected a Veterans Memorial to always remember local heroes who have given their lives in the service of our country.

Many who did not have to give the ultimate sacrifice were nonetheless willing to give whatever was necessary to secure liberty. My grandfather served in World War II during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day. He survived at Omaha Beach, while thousands around him were killed within a matter of hours.

Meanwhile, my grandmother was a real-life Rosie the Riveter, working in a steel mill and experiencing the birth of their first child with her husband far away and in danger. My grandfather was wounded in battle but ultimately returned home to his family and a Purple Heart award.

A young man in our ward was awaiting his mission call when he was called into service in the Middle East. His father is an officer in the military, and his mother devotes an enormous amount of time to the service of military families. I have friends whose husbands are currently deployed, and their lives are filled with uncertainty.

We cannot fully comprehend the price that has been paid throughout more than two centuries of our nation’s history, in defense of liberty at home and abroad. In his famous Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln described the responsibility we bear as the benefactors of sacrifice:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

A more important freedom has also come with a great price. We know that man’s agency is an essential part of our Heavenly Father’s Plan. We know that Satan was cast down because of his desire to destroy agency in the pursuit of his own glory (see Moses 4:3). We know that this mortal existence is a proving ground as we exercise our agency (see Abraham 3:25). And we know that this Plan required a Savior.
As Lehi explained to his son:

“And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil;
to act for themselves and not to be acted upon….

“Wherefore men are free according to the flesh, and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2: 26-27, emphasis added).

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, made the ultimate sacrifice for this freedom, which has no political
or geographic boundaries. Instead of building a monument, we make covenants to always remember what the Savior has done for us. As the benefactors of His sacrifice, we have a responsibility to offer all that is necessary to preserve our agency.

“Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean, until the Lord comes” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:86).

“And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free” (Mosiah 5:7-8).