By Debbie Schlussel

U.S. Army Sgt. Chris Moore at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Photo by H. Darr Beiser/USA Today)

Michigan Natl Guard Staff Sgt. Duane Dreasky is Buried in Arlington Natl. Cemetery

Although today we remember our brave men who made the ultimate sacrifice, every day should be Memorial Day. That’s because every day we wouldn’t have a single one of our freedoms without them. But, sadly, some Americans aren’t spending today remembering America’s fallen heroes. They’re remembering . . .

. . . a dead gorilla?!

Remember when Memorial Day wasn’t about remembering a gorilla? Remember when it wasn’t about mattress sales, which are now, sadly, closely associated with a day that was meant to remember those who gave their lives so we could be free? Mattresses don’t have anything to do with that.

Graves of Some of Our Fallen Heroes at Arlington National Cemetery

More than 1.1 million Americans serving in our armed forces died while fighting in wars. And, sadly, while they died so we could be free, they also died for the right of morons to spend the day mourning Harambe, an animal at a Cincinnati zoo who might have killed a child and couldn’t have been tranquilized quickly enough to save that child’s life. That’s what’s important now in our warped, dumbed-down country with a matching set of warped, dumbed-down priorities and sense of what’s important. Yes, instead of spending the day in the solemn manner it was meant to be, they spent the day marching outside the zoo with signs about a gorilla. Forget about 1.1 million American lives sacrificed for you and me. Today was a day to mourn zoo animals. Absurd. But that’s not “where we are headed.” It’s where we are.

Follow Me on Twitter . . .

#MemorialDay2016 Over 1 million American Troops Gave Their Lives . . . So That Dumbasses Could Spend Day Whining Over Gorilla? #tcot #gop

— Debbie Schlussel (@DebbieSchlussel) May 30, 2016

Harambe Schmambe. Today is About 1 Million Americans Who Died For Freedom. Mourn the Lives That Matter, YOU BLEEPING IDIOTS! #tcot #gop

— Debbie Schlussel (@DebbieSchlussel) May 30, 2016

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Sadly, our armed service members died for the right of Americans to give away our country to Muslim immigration. For the right of Americans to spend their lives watching “Real” Housewives and keeping up with Kardashians. Our American servicemen who gave life and limb and mind in the horrors of war are but a shadow of a memory compared to today’s cookouts and grilled burgers and shopping “holiday” sales. Today isn’t a day to “celebrate” or wish each other “Happy Memorial Day.” It’s a solemn day on which stores used to be closed and people used to meditate and remember the sacrifices other Americans made for them so they could celebrate and shop on 364 other days. No longer. Tonight, “The Bachelorette” is on, and America is more interested in who half-Iranian Jojo will choose to sleep with, er . . . give a rose. Who cares about the dramatic real-life heroic deaths of the men at the Battle of the Bulge or in Anzio or at Da Nang when the latest “most dramatic rose ceremony ever” is on tonight?

There’s a reason a book by the last failed “Bachelorette” is on this week’s best-seller list. America has dumbed down it’s heroes and what is important. Women who publicly give up their dignity on TV and in public are more “heroic” than men who give up their lives in war for us to be free to watch this and consume this drivel Hollywood and pop culture serve up.

Today, as we remember those who died for us, let’s also remember the men and women who are sadly still in Afghanistan and have returned to Iraq and are still dying over there for no legitimate reason. We shouldn’t have been there except to depose brutal anti-American dictators and replace them with brutal pro-American dictators. We didn’t do that and instead chose “democracy” for savage Muslims who hate us (Shi’ites) to replace another group of savage Muslims who hate us (Sunnis). How long were we going to be over there as U.S. servicemen were picked off by the Sunnis who got displaced and have since reorganized as ISIS? And now we are back, so more U.S. servicemen will die needlessly in the age old internecine Muslim “civil” war between the two inhumane groups neither of whom are civil or even close. That’s nearly as ridiculous as mourning a dead gorilla’s life and prioritizing it over 1.1 million human American lives.

So, today, say a prayer not just for America’s fallen, but also for those who are still overseas risking their lives every day. Say a prayer that they will not be added to America’s fallen and that they will soon be home again in one piece with a beating heart, a functioning body, and a sound mind. Every day they are over there is a day they risk being added to the nameless, faceless who are mourned not nearly enough on Memorial Day.

Graves of American Soldiers Who Gave Their Lives in WWII @ Normandy

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I’ve posted this in the past–a 2012 letter to the editor in USA Today, written by a veteran who served and laments what has happened to this day. This year, more than ever, it bears repeating–a letter to the editor from a man who remembered what Memorial Day was supposed to be about and what it used to be, but is sadly no longer:

Memorial Day will soon be here. It is the most important day of patriotic observance.

Before it was a day of solemn recognition of those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, today it has lost its true meaning. People have become selfish, forgetting to give up a little time to honor those men and women who died for the freedoms we have. This became more evident when Congress passed an act that changed Memorial Day from May 30 to the last Monday in May. It became a three-day weekend, anticipated for family outings, picnics, the start of vacation season and, oh yes, the shopping.

There was a time when stores were closed and entire towns gathered to honor the war dead, truly paying their respects. Those times are gone, but not for everyone. When you are having a picnic or you are on vacation, think of the men and women who have died for the freedom we enjoy, and also remember those men and women now serving, keeping us safe. God Bless America, and God keep those serving, safe.

Robert A. DeMitry; Sergeant, U.S. Army retired; Elk Creek, Mo.

Right on, Sgt. DeMitry, and thank you for your service.

Here are two other touching letters USA Today ran back then in 2012, which touched me and which I posted then. These men, their memories, and their great sacrifices deserve another chance to be recognized:

I will mark this Memorial Day by remembering Larry Allen, a fallen Marine from Decatur, Ga.

On June 18, 1970, somewhere in Vietnam, our squad ran into an ambush and was surrounded. We were taking heavy fire from the enemy we could not see. We were advancing when Larry stepped directly in front of me and one other Marine, taking a bullet wound in the lower stomach, meant for us. As he lay dying before us, I will never forget the helplessness I felt. The firefight was so intense that our choppers could not get in to help Larry and the other wounded. That day, we lost a wonderful 18-year-old Marine who not long before was running high school track in Georgia.

I salute you, Larry. Thanks for giving two of us our lives. Semper fi, my friend.

Terry Franks; Springville, Ala.

Thank you, Larry Allen and Terry Franks, for your service and sacrifice to America. Semper Fi.

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Five of us graduated from high school together as World War II began. We felt it our patriotic duty to enlist in the service of our country. We remained friends over the years.

Now at age 90, I am the sole survivor of the original five, so Memorial Day is a personal day of remembrance for me as an American serviceman and patriot.

Will Ketner; Harrisburg, Pa.

Thank you Mr. Ketner for your service to our country.