What do we remember?
The recent long weekend marked the beginning of summer. So many see Memorial Day in that limited context. I, for one, see it as the end of Respite Season and the beginning of the long and monotonous hurricane watch that is our tropical Florida reality. I once complained to an audience that there should be a holiday to commemorate the end of hurricane season. A smart-aleck shouted out "There is - Christmas." Funny?
What is Memorial Day? At the outset, it is not Veteran's day. In the days leading up to Memorial Day, I often hear praise for veterans, recognition of veterans, and oblique references to veterans. Do not take that wrong, I will be the first to stand up for and honor veterans. But we have a holiday for that in November (wouldn't it be nice if that signaled the end of hurricane season?). Memorial Day is not Veteran's Day.
Memorial Day is about service, but it is a solemn opportunity to specifically reference and pay respects to a category, those who paid the ultimate price. The Memorial Day movement began after the Civil War, and began as a diverse spectrum of "springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers." Graves were decorated for Decoration Day as it became known. Municipalities and states adopted specific observances. And about 50 years ago the U.S. Government adopted this recognition, "memorial" in their honor.
Many serve. I have been privileged to know a great many service members. Some performed mundane yet necessary tasks in the heartland while others plunged headlong into terrors and trials on foreign shores that I will never comprehend. Their motivation, dedication, and devotion are worthy of recognition. I lament that each November 11, when Veterans Day is ignored by so many.
But Memorial Day is for the fallen. Many of whom were never repatriated. Many of the dead will never come home. Their remains will lie for eternity under foreign soil. another small group came home unidentified or unidentifiable. They will be remembered by those who lost them and reminisced by those who follow.
Many more were buried in American cemeteries around the world. I have been privileged to visit some of those. The impressions have been incredibly moving and humbling. I stood once on the beaches of Normandy and listened to the waves. I then went up and stood in the Normandy archway and looked upon a sea of markers that testify to American sacrifice and resolve.
Years later, I walked, nearly alone, through a fine cemetery in Luxembourg. The parking lot was huge, the crowds were not. There was some "same" and yet the feel was markedly different. I have struggled with why those two cemeteries each felt so unique. I would not trade a minute of that time for any two-week respite in the finest accommodations in Europe.
There rage around us today various conflicts. These will continue, remain, and persist. The world is a place of limited resources, competition, anger, envy, and brutality. We are blessed to live in a place that has been largely spared violence in recent decades, but we are part of a larger world. Each day, American men and women don uniforms, stand posts, and prepare. Here, there, you name it. Do not forget them, nor the veterans that preceded them.
But today, remember those thousands that stormed a quiet beach in France. All of them bear Veteran's Day remembrance. Many of them bear Memorial Day remembrance. And those who came home are passing with every day. They changed the world through vigor and commitment. Some deflect and claim they were merely doing a job, they decry the "hero" label. They saved the world and demur our praise.
Though it is no longer Memorial Day, and not yet Veteran's Day, we would do well to remember that so many have died in defense of our freedoms, safety, and prosperity. D-Day is an opportune moment for that. It is an opportunity for reflection on what war does, costs, and requires.
In that, I was touched this week to see so many World War II veterans depart these shores for a flight to Normandie. Flights left from Texas, Atlanta, and more. Their stories are real, touching, and inspiring. They go to Normandie this week to remember the fallen. There has been effort to include in their coterie veterans of other conflicts and students. There is, in that, camaraderie and respect as well as a chance to inform a better future.
As we pause in this regard, we cannot forget those non-combatants who were impacted. Millions of innocent people died at the hands of the National Socialists from Germany. Their towns and villages were occupied and harassed by the Nazi occupiers/defenders. Many of those people were killed by Nazis, and many were killed by the liberators.
In a touching reminiscence, a Frenchman explained to NBC recently why he nonetheless flies the U.S. Flag. That article is poignant, troubling, and inspiring. It reminds us, ultimately, of the simple truth that war is indeed hell. People die, usually for reasons and causes that they do not understand, reasons that belong to others.
Pause a moment today. Think of the veterans, the dead, and the enormity of it all. Ponder what it took for the world to devolve into a world war, and remember all those who suffered for the failings.
Note: The author acknowledges that this post is not about workers' compensation and begs your indulgence.