The American Legion is right, memorializing John McCain, President Trump should order U.S. flag half-staffed at all federal institutions. As the Legion's president put it on Monday:





Rohan is right. And speaking for America's largest veterans organization, her words should move the president to act. While it's clear that Trump and McCain shared significant animus, the president must rise above his own personal feelings here. After all, remembering McCain with lowered flags would salute both McCain's long Senate service but also his choice to wear the nation's uniform and sacrifice in its honor. And while McCain's sacrifice was more exceptional than most, remembering him would recognize all those Americans who have served in war and peace.

[More: Veterans groups pressure White House to lower flags in honor of John McCain]

Trump's better action would recognize men and women like Jesse Brown, George Patton, Lori Piestewa, and my aunt's husband, Erik Winslow, who served in the Navy and was buried at Arlington cemetery on Monday.

As Abraham Lincoln noted in his second inaugural address, the nation has a duty to "care for [those] who shall have borne the battle." Trump should remember that such duty of care does not end with death. Instead, it must live eternal in our honoring of the glorious dead.