While many see Memorial Day as just another day off, suitable for grilling hot dogs and hamburgers in the back yard, I have always regarded it as day for me to fulfill some obligations to some friends who gave their lives so we could enjoy our freedoms.
The first thing I do on awakening is display the flag on the front of our house.
In the morning we will go to pick up a 91-year-old lady who, with her husband, was my next-door neighbor when I was a boy. She is a widow now. Her husband was a WWII combat veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, fighting as part of a tank destroyer team. Don't even think about the horrors he went through.
Our first stop will be at his grave. He was Jewish, so although we will not lay flowers there, I have a small American flag that I will place there. For whatever reason, the Boy Scouts have somehow neglected the Jewish portion of the cemetery when placing flags. Moe Feld certainly deserves a flag at his grave, and it will be my honor to provide one in his memory.
Next, we will visit my parents' gravesite. Although my dad did volunteer for enlistment during WWII, he was rejected for physical reasons. Still, it's been a tradition in my family to place flowers on family graves on Memorial day, so we will do that for my mom, dad, grandfather and grandmother.
Next stop will be at the Arizona Vietnam Memorial. There are two names inscribed on that wall that represent good friends. One was Army Lt. Ed Cribb, a Mohawk recon plane pilot who was shot down on a mission and lost his life. Ed was close friend in high school ROTC. The next was Air Force Capt. Chuck Walling, whose Phantom aircraft was shot down in Vietnam. He was a fraternity brother of mine in college. His remains were only recently found and identified there, and were finally returned for burial in Arlington cemetery.
I will go to the memorial, place a rose beneath each of their names, render a solemn hand salute in their memory, and pause for a few minutes there to reflect on their ultimate sacrifice. They were special and brave men who did not deserve to die.
Memorial Day is special every year to me - and should be for all Americans. God Bless the fallen - we would not exist as a country without them.
John
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omd9_FJnerY[/ame]
The first thing I do on awakening is display the flag on the front of our house.
In the morning we will go to pick up a 91-year-old lady who, with her husband, was my next-door neighbor when I was a boy. She is a widow now. Her husband was a WWII combat veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, fighting as part of a tank destroyer team. Don't even think about the horrors he went through.
Our first stop will be at his grave. He was Jewish, so although we will not lay flowers there, I have a small American flag that I will place there. For whatever reason, the Boy Scouts have somehow neglected the Jewish portion of the cemetery when placing flags. Moe Feld certainly deserves a flag at his grave, and it will be my honor to provide one in his memory.
Next, we will visit my parents' gravesite. Although my dad did volunteer for enlistment during WWII, he was rejected for physical reasons. Still, it's been a tradition in my family to place flowers on family graves on Memorial day, so we will do that for my mom, dad, grandfather and grandmother.
Next stop will be at the Arizona Vietnam Memorial. There are two names inscribed on that wall that represent good friends. One was Army Lt. Ed Cribb, a Mohawk recon plane pilot who was shot down on a mission and lost his life. Ed was close friend in high school ROTC. The next was Air Force Capt. Chuck Walling, whose Phantom aircraft was shot down in Vietnam. He was a fraternity brother of mine in college. His remains were only recently found and identified there, and were finally returned for burial in Arlington cemetery.
I will go to the memorial, place a rose beneath each of their names, render a solemn hand salute in their memory, and pause for a few minutes there to reflect on their ultimate sacrifice. They were special and brave men who did not deserve to die.
Memorial Day is special every year to me - and should be for all Americans. God Bless the fallen - we would not exist as a country without them.
John
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omd9_FJnerY[/ame]
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