The USS Midway was our nation’s longest serving aircraft carrier. Equipped with an armored flight deck, transporting over one-hundred aircraft, and housing over four thousand Sailors and Marines, the carrier was a forty-five-thousand-ton floating metropolis. From the beginning of the Cold War through the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm, the USS Midway was the epicenter and launch site for innumerable acts of service, bravery, and heroism.

Every Sailor and Marine was vital to the Midway’s success. A rescue helicopter crew circled the carrier during operations. Crews catapulted aircraft off the deck and launched pilots on their missions. Fueling the Sailors and Marines required fourteen-thousand meals to be served each day in the chow line.

Sailors in the steam engine room and near the boiler sweat it out to ensure the carrier kept moving. Messages were received, reviewed, and sent, and orders were relayed. Everything was interconnected. Everyone was interdependent. The success of everyone depended on the success of each one.

The labyrinth of passageways, stairways, and corridors mystified new Sailors. The scope and size of the Midway could not be understated. Brothers could be assigned to different parts of a Midway class carrier and never encounter one another.

Not wanting any Sailor or Marine to be without a brother, the carrier’s chaplain would go so far as to join crews on helicopter flights. By pursuing the Sailors and Marines the chaplain showed them mercy and goodness was following them.

Supply crews received the massive amounts of food and materials necessary to operate the Midway and nourish its crew. Frozen foods were delivered first and rushed to the carrier’s cooler and freezer. Ice cream was delivered last on one occasion.

Rather than let it go to waste, every available person was ordered to report to the flight deck with a spoon. The day’s triple digit temperatures were no match for the respite provided by the Midway’s supply crew and commanding officers.

Close calls were the norm. When a jet engine malfunctioned, a pilot ejected and hoped the carrier wouldn’t run them over. Those on board lived under the constant threat of attack. They built a bond comprehended only by those who have lived the same. They waited weeks for letters from home.

The Sailors and Marines were loved by their parents, siblings, friends, spouses, and children. Home life was compartmentalized and generally off-limits in conversation, yet the yearning for home was ever-present in their hearts. Some Sailors and Marines paid the ultimate price. The USS Midway demanded everyone’s best and sometimes their all. Freedom has an exorbitant cost.

I had the opportunity to tour the USS Midway recently. It was inspiring. It was humbling. It was heart-stirring. Although the carrier has been retired, its presence and the presence of those who share its stories is as essential today as it was when the carrier was in service.

Those who served on the USS Midway did their part to secure freedom for generations still to come. From the dawn of our nation’s independence and continuing to this day, it is the hard work, the sacrifice, and the grit of the men and women in our nation’s military who make freedom possible.

Every Independence Day barbecue is enjoyed thanks to the perseverance of someone in the service you will never know. Every family reunion is thanks to the fortitude of a family earnestly waiting to hug their loved one. Every fireworks display is thanks to the ones who hold the line because that’s what our nation needs. To those who hold the line: thank you for making all this possible.

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Jordan Gaffney is the Marshall County Attorney.