Sunday is a good day for reflection.

The Sunday before Memorial Day is a particularly good day for reflection.

1,334,705.

The number is approximately 1,334,705. The United States is a young country. We can look back and count the progress of our nation in the number of our years -- roughly two dozen decades, not even three hundred years. We can also count the decades of our nation in the number of military lives lost. The number is 1,334,705. Since the American Revolutionary War, in all our wars, battles and conflicts 1,334,705 military souls have given their lives so the Nation can live.

Although in the United States, Memorial Day has only been an official day of remembrance since 1971, there is a deep human impulse to honor those in military service who have given their lives for others.