On Veterans Day, you thank the servicemen you can.
On Memorial Day, you remember the ones you can’t.
Today I’ll be doing what I do most Memorial Days – stopping by the memorial to the USS Swordfish, which I wrote about a few years ago – on my way about all the rest of the things the day brings.
Hope you have a good day, and that you all remember why we have the day off.
Amen to that. May God bless all those who protect or have protected our country in various ways, some glamorous and some mundane, but all are important.
I hope and pray that the cowardly attacks that victimized the British and French soldiers recently do not make it to our country. If they do, I hope that those in any position to help will do so without hesitation.
Thanks for remembering the true reason for the day. I’ve never been in the military, but have the utmost respect for those who were/are.
Thanks, people! It was my very great honor to serve my country from 1972-1976. God bless America!
I stopped by the National Cemetery at the Minneapolis airport to visit the grave of an in-law who served in Vietnam. The police had traffic well organized. Volunteers from Civil Air Patrol and veterans groups helped visitors find graves. Everything was clean and trimmed. Kudos to the people who made my trip effortless and who keep the grounds in perfect order.
Whenever I see one of those veterans license plates I wish I could get one with a yellow stripe, ‘bend sinister’.
Joe, you make a very good point about the men and women that maintain the grounds of the cemetery. Last summer, I stopped by my dad’s gravesite during my lunch hour. There were two men dressed in their green uniforms, trimming some trees and freshening some mulch around the bases. They spoke quietly as they worked. I walked over to them and thanked them for their diligence in taking care of the grounds. They told me that they were veterans themselves, as were the majority of the people on the cemetery staff, so it was their honor to do so. Further, both of them mentioned that they had friends or relatives buried there, too. When I told them that I had just visited my dad’s grave and that as a veteran, I would probably be there some day myself, they both extended their hands and thanked me for my service, too.
This past weekend I was reintroduced to another custom of remembrance when I went back home for the rededication of the 130-year-old rural church and cemetery where many of my family’s past generations rest. In the rural cultures, Memorial Day was often called “Decoration Day” or “Remembrance Day” and the community would gather as a group to dress the grounds and tidy or decorate the graves, followed by a basket lunch “on the ground”. It was one of the big social functions every year and not just about veterans (though there were many) but all who had come before. There were about 150 people gathered for this rededication, and a lot of familiar names (the last names, at least). It was a neat event, and a living oral history.
paraphrasing from ‘old blood and guts’ Patton ….don’t grieve for those who die serving this country, give thanks for (celebrate) their lives…
Monday my kids (5, 7, and 8) were asking about my friends who bought the farm over the years and all I could do was just hug them and tell them I was just luckier!