Millions of Americans are gearing up for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, but it’s important that we ALL remember the reason for the holiday.

Around this time every year, I’m reminded of two soldiers I served with in Iraq who are no longer with us: Spc. Jose Mora and SSG Dale Panchot. These brave patriots were killed in action in Iraq, and when I think of them at this point, it shocks me how young they both were.

Jose Mora was just 26 years old. From his mini-bio in the Military Times:

The 26-year-old father of three was killed Oct. 23 in a mortar attack in Samarra, 70 miles north of Baghdad. Mora, who worked his way up from a rifleman to a Bradley fighting vehicle driver to a Bradley gunner, had what it took to be an Army leader, said his first sergeant, Glenn Robinson. “Toward the end of every month he always had two questions for me,” Robinson said. “He’d ask me how I was doing, then with a smile on his face, he’d ask me when he was getting promoted.”

Jose Mora and I weren’t close, but we didn’t have any problems either. He was – like many young people who make the decision to join the military – headstrong and confident, and just wanted to work hard to make a better life for himself and his family.

SSG Dale Panchot was trickier. He was my squad leader at one point in time, and he was tough – but fair. He was very professional in that he didn’t see the reasoning behind being ‘friends’ with a subordinate, but he did his job to the best of his ability and I became a better soldier under his leadership. From his memorial in the Military Times:

Some people are lucky enough to know what they want to do with their lives at a very early age. Staff Sgt. Dale Panchot was one of those people. “He wanted to be a soldier from the time he could pull on a pair of camouflage pants, from the time he was 3 years old,” recalled his mother, Karen Panchot. “He wore those every day and his friends would always be out in the fields, playing Army.” He joined the Army Reserves at 17, following his father and grandfather into the military. Days before he died, Panchot told his parents he had signed up for his last three-year tour. Having fulfilled his dreams of military service, he had new ones. “He wanted to be a history teacher and raise a family,” his mother said.

This Memorial Day, I salute these two fallen heroes, and we should all NEVER forget the meaning behind this holiday.