DefMin on Heroes' Day: It's our duty to thank them for their last full measure

The Minister of National Defense, Vasile Dincu, says that the Romanians have the duty to thank the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for the country, Agerpres reports.

"We must recognize that, on such a day, whatever we say and whatever we do would be too little to equal the immense value of the sacrifice of our heroes. But we have a duty to thank them, not only today, not only at the official ceremonies, but every day, for the country they have left us," he said in a message sent on Thursday, on Heroes' Day.

The minister emphasizes that this day "is the moment when the Romanian people honour the memory of the known and unknown heroes, fallen in battles throughout history, for the freedom of the nation, for the defense and reunification of the nation".

"Not by chance, Romanians commemorate their forefathers heroically sacrificed on the same day as the celebration of the day when our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven. The Self-sacrifice of the Son of the Lord, assumed in the name of all humanity, symbolizes the sacrifice of our heroes who, following the example of the Saviour, have placed above their own being the duty to the Country," he adds.

Dincu says that "the heroes of our nation gave their lives in the fight against tyranny, in the fight against injustice, so that Romania would be independent, sovereign and for the Romanians who had remained at home and, especially, so that those who were to be born, could live proudly and freely."

He recalls of the soldiers who died, in the recent period, in the theaters of operations.

"Whether it is the soldiers fallen in the Independence War, in the two world wars or, recently, in the missions in the theaters of operations in the Western Balkans, Afghanistan or Iraq, the fallen have made their bodies a shield for the defense of our nation. They are the few to whom we, the many, owe them enormously," the Minister of Defense said.

For him, "heroes are role models for the younger generations and for the next."

"The values and principles that have guided their destiny also remain to us as landmarks of responsibility, in order to leave to our descendants a developed Romania, a dignified country and fully integrated in the community of free and democratic states," adds Minister Dincu.