Every year about this time I start seeing all sorts of articles, letters to the editor, and (yes) Internet posts suddenly remembering to thank all us living veterans for our service, and it never ceases to irritate me. This year, I received (today) a typically self-serving e-mail from my U.S. Representative, (mis)informing me that "Memorial Day provides us with an opportunity to say thank you to the thousands of men and women enlisted in our armed forces."
The twit then went on to write, "Monday, May 27th, will be the 144th Memorial Day celebration. While spending time with your family and loved ones, take a moment to reflect on the many sacrifices made by the men and women in our armed services who have made this celebration possible."
And, as happens every year, I am angered by this [bleep]. To see it coming from a United States Representative makes me all the more angry, because after all the years this twit has been in office she SHOULD by now know what Memorial Day stands for.
We living veterans have our own holiday, called Veterans' Day. We have Armed Forces Day to honor those who are currently serving. Memorial Day is the day when we are supposed to remember those who died in service, and I don't like the see that get lost by detours into other issues. Is it too much to ask that on the ONE day a year set aside to honor those who died in service of their country, we simply do just that?
I had the good fortune to visit Normandy just prior to the 50th anniversary of D-Day, and the tour took us to several of the American cemeteries in Normandy and nearby. The experience was almost overwhelming for most of us, and perhaps maybe for me more than the others since I was (I think) the only veteran in the group as well as the only one whose father actually fought in WW2.
Please - let's keep Memorial Day for what it is. Watch this video and count up the numbers. Say a prayer for all those souls, as well as those who died in the Civil War, WW1, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Veterans' day comes later in the year. So does Armed Forces Day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3m6-_PvgAchttp://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries.phpThe spirit of Memorial Day lives in John McRae's poem:
In Flanders Fieldsby John McCrae, May 1915In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky