The most profoundly emotional moment in the musical "Les Miserables" is when Jean Valjean sings "Bring Him Home".  Some of the lyrics:

God on high
Hear my prayer
In my need
You have always been there

He is young
He's afraid
Let him rest
Heaven blessed.
Bring him home

....

Bring him peace
Bring him joy
He is young
He is only a boy

You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home

The musical, of course, is set in the times of the student revolutions that preceded the French Revolution,  but that scene came to my mind when I read the story of the discovery of some of the remains of  a very young New York soldier near the Corn Field at Antietam National Battlefield Park.  The young man had to have been killed on September 17, 1862 in the bloody charges and countercharges in that section of the field.  A temporary burial party would likely have placed him in a shallow grave within the next day or so, but somehow he was missed by the later burial details that moved the dead to a permanent national cemetery. 

That is, until 146 years later when a visitor to the Battlefield spotted some bone fragments near a groundhog hole, resulting in the NPS doing a more thorough search of the site.  The search yielded more bone fragments, some pieces of leather and cloth, coat buttons, a belt buckle, and some other small items.  So far, archaelogist and anthropologists have determined that the soldier was likely between 18 and 21 years old, and that while young, he was by September 1862 very likely a veteran in the Army of the Potomac.

Linda Wheeler's blog, "A House Divided" has a beautiful, eloquent post about this young man and his discovery. 
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/house-divided/2008/12/a_union_soldier_found_buried_a.html#more .  Please give it a read - it is very moving, and makes us think, once again, about the ways in which we must honor our war dead, of any era, and do everything we can do to "Bring Them Home."

The political correctness of today often results in everything about the War Between the States being discounted as an ugly period in our history that is glossed over and largely ignored.  In addition to the ridiculous refusal to address and understand a critical time in our collective history, it is tragic that so few people will recognize the significance of this discovery.  Archaeologically, the value is obvious.  But the real importance of this story is that this young man, left for so long in an unmarked, lonesome grave with only generations of groundhogs to tend his resting place, will finally be returned to his place of honor among his comrades.

I think of a father and mother, and perhaps younger siblings, wondering and worrying as news reports slowly trickled north from Maryland of the battle; the anxiety, pain and grief upon reading on casualty lists that their son was either missing, or killed in action; and the aching empty space in their lives of never, during any of their lifetimes, recovering their loved one's body to truly have closure with his heroic death.

It is for these reasons that we must always honor those who have fought, as Americans, for the cause of this country, and honor their families for that payment of the ultimate price for freedom.