Memorial Day was actually celebrated on May 30th up until 1970. From then we celebrate the day on the last Monday of May. That guarantees that Americans will have a nice three day weekend to spend time as families, and perhaps remember a person or two that have fallen during past military conflict. The day used to be called Decoration Day, and lets be careful not to “wake” and of the “woke” to the fact that the day became popularized by Southern women decorating the graves of Confederate Soldiers. They started this even during the days of the Civil War, when hundreds of young boys and their fathers would come home in boxes by dozens at a time. The South is still peppered with impromptu Civil War graves that stood in memorial to our greatest and most horrible conflict.
The act of decorating the graves of fallen military leaders has been happening for centuries, probably dating to the Roman era. So the tradition has carried on and over time the country has adopted this practice as a day of remembrance for all those who have fallen serving our country. Personally, I have had several members of my family serve in the military and many that served in some capacity during the both major world wars. The are several stories in my family of close calls that almost ended the lives of one of my grand parents and therefor almost erased my generation. However, they survived and lived to tell the tale and perhaps even embellish it a little! I guess that is your right when you are parachuting from a bomber plane losing altitude over German controlled lines.
A few new stories trickled in this morning about people taking political jabs at each other for not being patriotic enough. That was worthy of an eye roll, for sure. As I passed by the string of aircraft carriers all anchored for the holiday, I could see on one several family members on the deck for a visit. I past by and could see the proud young men standing next to mom and dad as they looked out over the harbor.
I wiped a tear out of my eye, knowing that if the call came those young men would gladly sail out of this calm, sunny harbor and head toward the mouth of hell itself to defend us. While the country devours itself from within, at least I know that at its borders, on our seas, and in the air there are thousands of brave men and women that will defend our rights to be a bunch of idiots.
So tomorrow is officially memorial day. I will try to remember the 6 members of my family, that I knew, that lie in the ground today, buried with a token or two that symbolized their service for our country.
Guy Reams
I have military family ties, but thankfully, never lost one to war. My father was in the Navy band in WWII. My husband was an electronics technician in nuclear submarine operations E6. I’ve been active in the American Legion Auxiliary for many years, and appreciate what those who serve do for our country. I had the privilege of participating in the Honor Guard for Memorial Day along side Legion, Sons of the Legion, Auxiliary and Junior Legion members in our local ceremony. Putting on the Auxiliary uniform was an honor and I hope I represented with respect. Our team provided the 21 gun salute, which was an added thrill. I look forward to many more occasions where I can show respect for the fallen.
Awesome!