As Americans, honoring our nation’s military veterans is part of who we are and late fall seems to bring about the most remembrances.

Between National POW/MIA Recognition Day in September, Veterans Day in November, the U.S. Navy’s birthday in October and the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, there are plenty of official days set aside to take a moment to think about all of those who have sacrificed so much for us.

But, as anyone who has loved and lost a veteran knows, no special day on the calendar is needed to remember these heroes.

A plaque honoring Sgt. Joseph G. Kusick, who graduated from Karns City High School in 1963, was unveiled at the East Brady light up night at Veterans Memorial Park last weekend. Kusick died Nov. 9, 1967, when his helicopter went down in Laos as he was working as part of a reconnaissance team operating in South Vietnam. The team entered Laos to observe North Vietnamese men and equipment move down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Bryan Bly, who gave a speech about Kusick during the event, said the team that fateful day was “sanitized,” stripped of their dog tags, uniforms — anything that would have identified them as American military.

Kusick and his team’s leader, Master Sgt. Bruce Baxter, ended up wounded on the side of a hill after their plane was shot down by guards protecting the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A rescue was attempted, but that helicopter was also shot down. A forensics team went to the site of the crash but was unable to find any remains.

In 2017, the Sergeant Joseph George Kusick VA Community Living Center was named after him on the VA Butler Healthcare campus in Butler Township.

It’s a fascinating story, and part of what is amazing is there are many other tales like it. When civilians learn new pieces of military lore, we’re captivated. It’s easy to forget how many of our nation’s heroes met similar ends in dangerous situations most of us can’t comprehend.

Bly asks us to remember these sacrifices.

“What do we owe them? Simply an America they would be proud of. A mother who lost a son in World War II had this engraved on his stone in Italy: ‘To my son who gave the greatest gift of all, an unlived life.’ Please remember Joe Kusick’s unlived life.”

— KL