Memorial Day 2007

Memorial Day 2007

Parades.  When I was a boy growing up in Peekskill NY there were parades all of the time.  At least it seemed like there were to me.  I loved them.  I loved the music.  I loved the horses.  I loved the fire trucks.  I loved to see the Peekskill Military Academy cadets in their blue uniforms and white hats.  I loved just about everything that the parades brought us.  I loved parades.

We had parades on Memorial Day (the day when we remembered those that had died at war while protecting our country).  We had parades on Independence Day (we always referred to it as the 4^th of July).  We had parades on Armistice Day (celebrated on the 11^th day of the 11^th month - the day World War I ended in 1918) - it is now called Veteran's Day.  We had parades on Halloween and all of the children of the town dressed up in their costumes and marched through the town's streets.  We had parades before and after high school football games.  We had parades all of the time!

While I loved the parades, I remember, quite fondly, certain other events that accompanied the celebrations.  Most were joyous but one, in particular, was not.  Memorial Day ceremonies were sad.  Remember, vividly, one particular event that was celebrated year after year on Memorial Day.

Parades usually ended up in Depew Park; a public park in the heart of our town.  Depew Park ("The Park") had many facilities for the citizens of Peekskill.  A beautiful stadium where some 7000 people could view a football game.  A nice baseball field that was available for everyone in the town.  Playgrounds with slides and swings; swings that you could pump to amazing heights.  Tennis courts.  Cages with amazing birds (like the peacock whose call was a trademark of  "The Park."  A track for all to use (including the High School track team).  In the middle of the park there was Lake Mitchell.  It seemed huge when I was a youngster but I guess it was about two or three acres big.  It had an island that was accessible from two paths which were built up from two sides of the lake.  In the winter it froze over and became a wonderful place for people to skate; seems like hundreds at a time would be there on cold winter days.

Every year, on Memorial Day, a very special ceremony took place at Lake Mitchell that I will never forget as long as I live.  When the parade terminated in "the park" a group of men carried a mock ship that had been filled with fresh flowers to the shore of the lake.  They held the ship for a few moments while a local pastor said a prayer for the departed Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that had given their lives for their country.  Memorial Day was for remembering those men and women who had paid the full measure of devotion as an earlier president had said.  When the prayer was over the men eased the boat into the water, gave it a little push, and a bugler somewhere in the distance played Taps.

This Memorial Day I doubt there will be many such ceremonies around our country.  Our departed brethren will not be remembered like they were in years gone by.  Yes, there will be ceremonies at Arlington Cemetery and other scattered locations around the country; but not like it was just after World War II.  Here in Fredericksbug VA the National Cemetery has flags on each of the gravestones.

My friends here in the ActiveRain Community.  I ask you to remember someone in your family or someone you know who has given their lives for our country.  Put their name and a short note about why you are remembering them in your post.  I think many of us will be surprised with how many of our lives have been effected by this.

My grandson Sergeant Lane DeChristopher is a veteran of the Iraq War.  He is a Virginia National Guardsman and was called to serve in Iraq.  I would like to start out this recognition with a friend of his, Sergeant Nick Mason, was killed while in the dining facility of his unit.  He had gone for breakfast when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb and killed several of our "best and brightest" citizens.  Nick and Lane often had breakfast together; however, on this day Lane had guard duty.  I can say no more!

Please share the name of someone you know who has given their life for our nation; add a little about why you care about them.

It can be our little way of remembering someone on Memorial Day.

Ed DeChristopher