In 1968, Lt. William Calley ordered and participated in one of the greatest war crimes in America’s history. He ordered the killing of at least 347 Vietnamese children, women and elderly men at an infamous place called My Lai. Many women and girls were raped. At his trial, Calley claimed he was following the order of his superior officer, Capt. Ernest Medina. Does this imply that all responsibility resides only at the top of command? President Richard Nixon famously said “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” A single Black soldier at My Lai, PFC Herbert Carter, shot himself in the foot to avoid participating. He was the only American casualty.

The most common defense of German officers brought before the Nuremberg Commission at the end of the Second World War was that they were simply doing their patriotic duty by following the orders of superiors. They were putting Germany first above all other considerations. The court did not accept the “just following orders” argument. It concluded that they did have agency to make choices. They could have defied the chain of command. Those who did paid a heavy price for their courage. Those who didn’t may have been patriotic, even heroic in their minds or those of others, but this is hardly praiseworthy.

In U.S. celebrations of Veterans Day, we praise the courage and patriotism of members of the military. Presumably we do this not simply because they are disciplined, obedient, or even willing to endanger themselves to protect their country. In fact the only legitimate reason to celebrate their actions is that they were following orders because they were choosing to do what is right. This implies that they were not obedient automatons, but full humans with the ability to make choices. The only alternative is that we should also praise Germans for following orders in the service of their country. Virtue is not simply discipline or patriotism, but courage to do what is right.

In World War II, most members of the U.S. military belived that they were indeed acting both legally and morally against a threatening and brutal foe. Every country should praise soldiers who show courage to act in this way. The crucial question, then, is whether orders are just. Do we demand that soldiers blindly commit to their nation first, as if that were the highest duty? Following orders, even courageously, is not in itself worthy of praise. Otherwise we are designating soldiers as less than fully human, people without the ability to consider the justice of their actions. In World War II, as one goes up the ladder of German command, the culpability surely expands, to the point that those foot-soldiers look almost like victims themselves, but certainly not to those being herded into gas chambers.

Today, our president has ordered ICE agents to brutally round up and imprison fellow human beings in concentration camps. To conceal the fact that ICE agents are human themselves with moral choices to make, their faces are masked. And now, we have a massive military program turned on U.S. citizens themselves to intimidate not only those designated as “illegal” but also those who stand before these government agents demanding that they act like full humans. This is a moment of reckoning. Those members of ICE and the U.S. military have a choice. It is misguided to blame these actors as much as those above them in the chain of command who justify these brutal actions. But is it only the one at the very top of the chain of command that can choose, that has any responsibility?

So on Veterans Day we honor soldiers for realizing that they are full human beings who can choose to do what is right rather than for their willingness to just follow orders. The implication is also that when nonviolent protesters, including religious leaders, stand before federal agents and demand they refuse brutal unethical orders, they should be praised for their courage.

Referring to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, author Omar El Akkad reckons that “one day, everyone will have always been against this.” But today is the moment to look reality in the face and resist courageously.

Patrick McGreevy lives in Greenfield and invites comments at pmcgreevy64@gmail.com.