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May 30, 2005
Memorial Day
Some folks still call it Decoration Day. When I was a kid, Memorial Day was one of my favorite holidays because there was a parade that ended at the school across from my house and afterwards, it seemed like the whole town came to our backyard for a huge cookout, complete with marshmallow toasting and cans of pop. I don't think it really occured to me at the time to wonder why we observe this holiday -- I was a kid and it was a party and if we were supposed to remember something, well, the grownups would take care of it -- but I suppose I took the large number of veterans in the parade as some indication and left it at that. I'm not sure when it sunk in for me that Memorial Day is more than just a party or a day when all the pools open for the summer, but all those bodies that Dubya doesn't want us to see returning stateside certainly drive the point home.
I didn't make it over to the cemetery this morning, but I will remember.
UPDATE: a breakdown of our losses so far in Bush's war is available here along with some memorial links.
Posted by alice at May 30, 2005 11:06 AM
Comments
I used to watch my grandparents with wonder on how sacred Memorial Day was to them. It did seem like a "grown ups" holiday, but the occasional tears that flowed made it more solemn. These were the big grown men who played cards on the weekends and gave us rides on the tractors - what could make them cry?
I knew he had served in WWII - it seemed that everyone of that generation did but it wasn't until after my grandfather had died did I learn why he and many of his friends cried on this day. Grandma let me know that defending the innocent was one of the greatest honors Grandpa had ever been given. She let me know how his unit was one of those who liberated some of the camps - that the horror of seeing people treated like animals shook his soul. That he hadn't thought it was possible for one man to treat another like that. She said he cried for the loss of his friends, but that he cried more over knowing what the evil in men could lead to.
Posted by: StelmoDad at May 30, 2005 12:01 PM