My thoughts on Memorial Day have been an evolving experience. As a child I remember thinking WOO HOO Memorial Day is here and we are out of school for the summer. I do however remember that my parents always went and decorated graves so I did know it was a time to honor our dead.
When our children were little I still had those thoughts of Memorial Day. I did however expect it to be a holiday where my children got out of school. We lived a few years in another state and when my children had to go to school on Memorial Day I was appalled and ended up calling the Superintendent of the school district. (In retrospect I was appalled that they had to go to school on a National Holiday but at that point didn't really know much about why it was a holiday).
That was when I found out of the origins of Memorial Day. It was actually started as a Northern Holiday after the Civil War. It was after World War I that it officially became a holiday to celebrate those who died not just in the Civil War but any war. It was in 1971 with the National Holiday Act it became a three day weekend celebrated on the last 
Monday in May. I was surprised that the school district we were in at that time did not have the day as one of their recognized holidays. That may have changed as we left that area 12 years ago.
My nonchalant attitude about Memorial Day continued as our children graduated from High School. In our school district graduation would always take place on the Saturday of Memorial weekend. Our son graduated in 2004 and immediately joined the Army. This was when I really learned the meaning of Memorial Day. He ended up serving 3 years of Foreign Service with two of those years being over in Iraq. I must say this will bring the meaning home to you.
As I was preparing this post I did some research and came across this History of Memorial Day. Wow did this post go along with what I just wrote. I was writing about my own nonchalant attitude and then read in this post "As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day." It appears that my nonchalant attitude was more the norm than the exception.
Our son just got out of the Army May 2nd. That has made me very introspective about this Memorial Day. We were one of the lucky ones as he came back without injuries.
We are not necessarily a military family but do have a long record of serving our country. My Dad and all 
of his brothers were in World War II at the same time. (That's my Dad second to the right.) Two were in the Army, two were in the Air Force and one was in the Navy. My family was blessed; they all came home. My Uncle Myrl who was the one way to the right in the picture was the only one who stayed in the reserves and he ended up getting killed in the Korean conflict. The rest of the brothers all lived to old age; my Dad is the only sibling whom is still living.
My husband's Grandfather served in World War I. In our Game room we have a picture of his unit before they deployed and under it a picture of those that came back. I have not actually counted how many came back but it is about half of those that left. I also have a flag with 48 stars in a ceremonial container that was given to my Great-Grandfather. He fought in the Civil War but my Mother told me he lied about his age to get in. In that same room I have a picture of our son while he was in the Army and a picture of my Dad from back when he was in the Army. This is in the room where I have my elliptical machine and I have been trying to exercise 4 to 5 times a week so these have become a visual reminder for me of my family serving their country. These visual reminders have made me realize how fortunate our family is that they all lived through their service.
Thank God we don't have as many casualties in this war as in previous wars but we have a huge amount of 
our soldiers who are coming back injured and maimed. I just had an email come across about a local soldier who has lost both legs and they thought also both arms and burnt over 56% of his body. His family is asking for as many soldiers and veterans as possible to send him a birthday card. You can go to "Chandlers Watch" and get the address. This is a recent post so you still have time to send a card.
My nonchalant attitude about Memorial Day has disappeared! Freedom is not FREE! We owe a debt of gratitude to those whom have paid the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free. We also owe a debt of gratitude to those who are presently serving our coutnry and those that have served previously.
In doing my research for this post I ran across an idea I really like. Perhaps we need to go back to our traditional celebration of celebrating Memorial/Decoration Day on May 30th. We could always have our three day weekend over Armed Forces Day which is the 3rd Saturday of May. This would be a way to put the emphasis back on what Memorial/Decoration Day was meant to stand for.
Comments(17)