MEMORIAL DAY 2025: Honor the Heroes Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice for Our Country
By Tom Palermo, Space Coast Daily President & Publisher // May 26, 2025
646,596 American troops have died in battle
On this Memorial Day 2025 weekend, please take time to remember and honor the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, among them being Emory Lawrence Bennett, who grew up on Merritt Island and Cocoa, was a U.S. Army soldier in the Korean War who posthumously received the U.S. military’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.
The following lyrics by Lee Greenwood in his acclaimed song “God Bless the USA” honor the 646,596 American troops who have died in battle, and the more than 539,000 who died from other non-combat-related causes.
“And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free,
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me…”
Greenwood then reiterates the pledge that the approximately 2.1 active and reserve U.S. military personnel have currently made to stand up and “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.”
“…And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today,
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land.”
This dedication was recently illustrated when Brevard Public Schools presented its very compelling Enlistment Ceremony of the Space Coast at Viera High School Stadium.
During this event, over 200 Space Coast young patriots took the oath to enlist in the United States Armed Forces as soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, or Coast Guardsmen.
On a personal note, I recently attended a time-honored U.S. Air Force ceremony at Vance Air Force Base, where pilots received their wings in a ‘Winging Ceremony,’ which marks the culmination of their undergraduate pilot training and signifies that they have earned their pilot wings.
It was inspiring to witness these 23 outstanding and accomplished U.S. Air Force officers being honored by their colleagues, family, and friends in a jam-packed auditorium full of pride and honor.
I am proud to say that among those earning their wings was my 22-year-old daughter, 2nd Lt. Samantha Palermo, a Brevard native who attended Merritt Island Christian School, Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary, Edgewood Jr./Sr. High is a 2020 graduate of Merritt Island High School and a 2024 graduate of the University of Florida.
At the conclusion of this inspiring program, I couldn’t help but once again recall what President Ronald Reagan said during his notable first inaugural address in 1981:
“Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.”
If I could speak to President Reagan today, I would tell him that these 23 newly-minted U.S. Air Force pilots is a perfect place to find those heroes, and, as Reagan said, “lead our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God’s help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A resident of Brevard County, Florida, for the past 39 years, Tom Palermo is the President & Publisher of Space Coast Daily and has more than 40 years of experience in the media business as a publisher, editor, and industry consultant. During his career in corporate and small business entrepreneurial environments, he founded dozens of local, state, regional, and national print and digital publications.
Palermo has written thousands of articles and columns for daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, trade publications, and websites, and hosted a weekly radio talk show for seven years. In 2005, Palermo founded Space Coast Daily parent company Maverick Multimedia, Inc., which specializes in media-specific IT development, niche multimedia publishing, and devising comprehensive strategic business and marketing plans.
Palermo is also co-founder of Brevard Production Inc., an organization that owns, sponsors and produces some of the most significant and compelling annual special events in the region, including the Central Florida Humanitarian Awards, the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame, the Space Coast State Fair, Dancing for the Space Coast, Cocoa Beach Spring Training, the Port Canaveral Seafood & Music Festival, the Space Coast Oktoberfest, Space Coast Home Shows, Space Coast Health Fair and many more.
The founder and president of the Space Coast Publishers Guild, Palermo diligently advocates for his industry’s innovation and upholding of the highest standards of integrity. His proudest accomplishments in life are the successes of his four children—Alicia, Sara, Anthony, and Samantha.
