Many watching Steven Spielberg's film "Saving Private Ryan" are getting their first realistic look at the brutalities facing soldiers in World War II. While the characters are fictional, they serve as guideposts to one of our country's finest hours a time when everyday heroes defended our liberty against the forces of evil.

Subsequent generations cannot fully understand the accomplishments of the men and women who answered duty's call on the beaches of Normandy and the desert sands of North Africa, the frigid mountains of Europe and the islands and jungles of the Pacific. Battles were waged on land, in the sea and in the air.

Back in America, their loved ones also gave a full measure, living on ration stamps and forsaking basic necessities. Hundreds of thousands of families made the ultimate sacrifice sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, never came marching home.

Their oblation was described in John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

For countless others who returned to our shores, their minds and bodies were shattered by enemy gunfire and death around every corner.

Our citizen soldiers paid a horrific price, but gained a precious peace. Enormous faith, determination and courage beat back Nazi oppression and Japanese aggression and laid the groundwork for the world system we know today. Many borders built with their blood have lasted more than half a century.

The victory gave us the best years of our lives. Children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren prospered in the decades that followed, never comprehending the effort that secured such success. Instead of cherishing this legacy, many squander it. Today, thousands of college students have nothing better to fight for than the right to set cars ablaze or go binge drinking.

Instead they should thank the GIs who fought for freedom of assembly.

The World War II generation, now a group of seventy-, eighty- and ninety-somethings, deserves another salute from a grateful nation.

My battle plan is simple. Teachers should invite veterans to elementary schools and university classrooms. Students should interview veterans or retrace the steps of fallen soldiers and their families. Anyone who wore a uniform deserves to be heard, whether they are Pearl Harbor survivors, Tuskegee Airmen, or the few who came back from Bataan.

Curriculums should include the classic writings of reporter Ernie Pyle, whose chilling dispatches chronicled the "Death of Captain Waskow," the vast destruction of D-Day and other memorable moments.

Throughout the year, not just on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, civic groups should sponsor oral histories and honor heroes from both world wars, Korea, Vietnam and all the other armed conflicts. Media outlets should highlight stories about the remaining sentries to the past. Freedom of the press was another right they died to preserve.

"We have to remember that in the future we will want to keep before our children what this war was really like," said Eleanor Roosevelt. "It is so easy to forget; and then, for the younger generation, the heroism and the glamour remains, while the dirt, the hardships, the horror of death and the sorrow fade somewhat from their consciousness."

Before it's too late, draft a "Private Ryan" for one more assignment. Time is the one enemy even this hearty generation cannot conquer. Every day more voices are silenced. About 31,000 World War II veterans pass away each month.

General Douglas MacArthur was wrong old soldiers do die. Let's listen to them before the memories just fade away.