A lot of us had fathers and some have grandfathers who fought in WWII. Many of those vets are no longer with us and the number gets lower by the day.

But two of them, highly decorated veterans, wonder what happened to the country they defended. Yup, we’ve made a lot of progress in a lot of areas. But what have we lost along the way? Part of that may be the simple patriotism that motivated these men and many others. We need to regain it before it’s too late.

Fox: “Much of what American soldiers fought for in World War II has ‘gone down the drain,’ according to U.S. Marine Carl Spurlin Dekel, who celebrated his 100th birthday last week.

Dekel says serving his country in WWII was the most important thing he ever did, according to Fox 13. The veteran and Silver Star holder says he wouldn’t hesitate to put his life on the line again, but regrets that the U.S. has slipped away from what he remembers.”

“People don’t realize what they have,” Dekel told the outlet. “The things we did and the things we fought for and the boys that died for it, it’s all gone down the drain.

“We haven’t got the country we had when I was raised, not at all,” he says. “Nobody will have the fun I had. Nobody will have the opportunity I had. It’s just not the same and that’s not what our boys, that’s not what they died for.”

In related news, the oldest recipient of the Medal of Honor died last week as well. “Friends and family of Woody Williams knew him as a West Virginia farmer’s son and the youngest of 11 children who dutifully supported his family after his father died,” they wrote in a statement through the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. “Fellow Marines knew him as the corporal who volunteered for a mission on Iwo Jima to clear a lane through enemy pillboxes that were destroying American tanks.

“Veterans in West Virginia knew him as their advocate through his work as a Veterans Service Representative. Gold Star families knew Woody through his work raising money for scholarships and other programs through the Woody Williams Foundation,” they continued. “We, his fellow Medal of Honor Recipients, knew him as our friend and one of our heroes. We will miss him greatly.”

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Williams himself bemoaned the current lack of patriotic spirit. “I’ve been at this probably 25 to 30 times, but I believe today we had more honor wreaths than we’ve ever had before, and that’s encouraging,” Williams told WSAZ during an event. “It gives me encouragement that we’re coming back and that we will again be that United States of America that had so much patriotism and love of country.”