Heroes' Day is not only about the past, it is also about our obligation to the future, because a country that forgets its heroes slowly begins to lose itself, interim Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Thursday.

'We cannot have a future if we do not know how to cherish our past. We cannot ask a nation to move forward if it forgets those who kept it standing when everything seemed lost. Today, on Ascension Day and Heroes' Day, we bow our heads before those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that Romania might exist, be free and remain dignified. We honour those who fell in the War of Independence, in the two world wars, the heroes of the December 1989 Revolution and the Romanian soldiers who gave their lives in theatres of operations, carrying the tricolour far from home. Many of them were never mentioned in textbooks. They had no statues and no glory. They were ordinary people, with families, dreams and lives that might have continued differently. Some remained only in a photograph yellowed by time. In a name engraved on a cross. In the memory of a family that perhaps waited a lifetime for them to return,' Miruta wrote on Facebook.

Thanks to them, Romania is today a free, democratic and European state, capable of deciding its own destiny, Radu Miruta underlined.

'Those who fought at Marasti, Marasesti and Oituz were not defending merely a military front. When they said 'They shall not pass!', they were defending the very idea that Romania deserved to exist. That this country deserved to remain free, whole and dignified. More than a century later, the world may look different, but their lesson remains the same. Freedom does not come by itself. Peace is not a given. Democracy does not preserve itself. All these things must be defended by every generation through responsibility, solidarity and the strength of a nation capable of remaining united in difficult times. Heroes' Day is not only about the past. It is also about our obligation to the future. Because a country that forgets its heroes slowly begins to lose itself. Today, let us remember not only how they died, but above all what they lived and fought for. Eternal glory to Romania's heroes!' the interim defence minister's message read. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)