In a perfect world, there would be no need for monuments inscribed with names of fallen warriors and no need of community celebrations for soldiers returning from our latest war.

But this is not a perfect world. And so, we do what we can to honor those killed in battle and those who come home safe. It's never really enough. It is the least we can do.

This weekend, those who served in a pair of wars roughly 30 years apart were the focal point for local events that were tributes to their sacrifices.

In Richmond Hill, the Moving Wall paid quiet, elegant homage to those who went to a far away land called Vietnam so many decades ago and never came back. The Moving Wall - a scaled down replica of the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C. - visited Hinesville/Fort Stewart a few years ago and, with luck, will return to the area in the future for those who missed it in Richmond Hill.

Meanwhile, above Wright Army Airfield on Fort Stewart, a group of aeronautical daredevils wowed those who attended with a show intended as a tribute to the men and women just returning from more than a year in Iraq.

Fitting tributes, both. And though we can never really repay these men and women, events such as these are a good step in the right direction.