Have a great Memorial Day Holiday Weekend

[RV_]

I wish all my fellow RVrs full time or part a great holiday weekend. And to Remember those who gave all.

 

Memorial Day

Begun in 1866 to honor Civil War Combatants, it was later expanded to honor all brave men and women who served this country in all wars.

Between cookouts, picnics, vacations and sales, Memorial Day may be losing its

meaning! Please take one minute, at 3 PM local time on Memorial Day to Remember and honor those brave men and women, who paid the piper that we may dance.

 

A Day to Remember

 By Derek Gore

They gave their all, their lives, and the futures they held dear,

They left behind a legacy of sadness and of tears.

A folded flag, the sound of Taps, the pride mixed in their leaving,

With heads held high, and tears in eye, the loved ones still are grieving.

Remember them.

 

Went in harm's way, so young, and they never will grow older,

Leaving memories, and pictures, citations in a folder.

They left their sons, their little girls, to grow up wondering why,

Their daddy that they loved so well, went off to war to die.

Remember them.

 

For some it changed, and mother, was the casualty of war,

The arms that hugged them never would again, forevermore.

Yet all were sons and daughters, and left behind an ache,

In the hearts of those, whose turn should come, before their children's wake.

Remember them.

 

Some say that they rest in peace, and who am I to doubt it?

The higher purpose it was served, the enemy was routed.

Some came home, some never went, some only watched the news,

But they will never hold their child, or argue current views.

Remember them

 

It wasn't meant, in leaving, when they all marched off to war,

That we'd be left without them, from the cannon's deadly roar.

I'm sure that they, would rather, have been here for all of us,

But someone had to fight those wars, someone pay the cost.

Remember them

 

At 3 PM, this Monday, my flag will fly half mast,

As all across the nation, floats the somber sound of Taps.

It's only for one minute, or maybe three or four,

In tears, I will remember, those who died in every war.

© RV Roadie / Derek Gore 2002

 

Taps and Amazing Grace can be downloaded here to play at 3PM on Memorial Day local time for a national moment of remembrance:

http://www.mymorninglight.org/taps/

 

How to observe Memorial Day:

 

Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act adds the flying of the POW-MIA flag on all Federal and U.S. Military Installations on Memorial Day. The POW-MIA flag is to be half-staffed until noon along with the National flag.

Other traditional observances included wearing red poppies, visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes, and visiting memorials.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years and many Americans have forgotten the meaning and traditions of the day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored or neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades.

There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 1950s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, 1,200 soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed in December 2000. It asks that at 3 p.m. local time all Americans “voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of Remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps.”

 

Source: USMEMORIALDAY.ORG

 

 

[DJohns]

Well said and Thank you for the history lesson. Yesterday I said to my wife, I wonder how many people going camping this weekend even know what Memorial Day is for.

[Dutch_12078]

I was walking around the campground yesterday and overheard a young fellow, maybe 12 or 13, correct his mother about the real meaning of Memorial Day. I didn't hear what she had said, but he seemed a little upset that she had it so wrong.

[sandsys]

4 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I was walking around the campground yesterday and overheard a young fellow, maybe 12 or 13, correct his mother about the real meaning of Memorial Day. I didn't hear what she had said, but he seemed a little upset that she had it so wrong.

I wonder if he was a Boy Scout? I can imagine scouts being taught such things. I wasn't taught that as a Girl Scout but I was a scout back when it was called Decoration Day and my father marched with the American Legion's drum and bugle corps.

Linda

[RV_]

9 hours ago, DJohns said:

Well said and Thank you for the history lesson. Yesterday I said to my wife, I wonder how many people going camping this weekend even know what Memorial Day is for.

You're welcome. Glad it struck a chord.

[RV_]

6 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I was walking around the campground yesterday and overheard a young fellow, maybe 12 or 13, correct his mother about the real meaning of Memorial Day. I didn't hear what she had said, but he seemed a little upset that she had it so wrong.

👍👍

[RV_]

2 hours ago, sandsys said:

I wonder if he was a Boy Scout? I can imagine scouts being taught such things. I wasn't taught that as a Girl Scout but I was a scout back when it was called Decoration Day and my father marched with the American Legion's drum and bugle corps.

Linda

I was a scout but my own service 1971-1998 taught me that we were honored on Veteran's Day, and we honored our comrades in arms who gave all on Memorial day, and why. 

My dad was a Brit and served in the foreign service as a Diplomat. He abandoned us and we never heard from him again until his death when I found he was Honorary Consul to Mexico at Acapulco and found a wonderful brother from his second marriage.  We stay in touch. Thus I observe Veteran's day for all our vets and simultaneously post on Remembrance Day for my other family I never knew, and my friends in the British Commonwealth today.

My poem and honor applies to our dear allies in the British Commonwealth like Canada and Australia. Their fallen are honored on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, called Remembrance Day. We play Taps at 3pm. They play "Last Post at 11 AM."

Here in the US I can understand some confusion since we also honored our war dead on Armistice Day which took place on the 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month to honor only our war dead. Then we changed it to Veteran's day on Nov 11. I can understand the confusion of some folks who celebrated our living Vets on the same day our allies celebrated their dead.

Excerpt:

"The United States Congress adopted a resolution on June 4, 1926, requesting that President Calvin Coolidge issue annual proclamations calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.^[6] A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made November 11 in each year a legal holiday: "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'".^[4]

In 1945, World War II veteran Raymond Weeks from Birmingham, Alabama, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Weeks led a delegation to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who supported the idea of National Veterans Day. Weeks led the first national celebration in 1947 in Alabama and annually until his death in 1985. President Reagan honored Weeks at the White House with the Presidential Citizenship Medal in 1982 as the driving force for the national holiday. Elizabeth Dole, who prepared the briefing for President Reagan, determined Weeks as the "Father of Veterans Day".^[7]

US Representative Ed Rees from Emporia, Kansas, presented a bill establishing the holiday through Congress. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, also from Kansas, signed the bill into law on May 26, 1954. It had been eight and a half years since Weeks held his first Armistice Day celebration for all veterans.^[8]

Congress amended the bill on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since.^[4][9]

The National Veterans Award was also created in 1954. Congressman Rees of Kansas received the first National Veterans Award in Birmingham, Alabama, for his support in offering legislation to make Veterans Day a federal holiday.^[10]

Although originally scheduled for celebration on November 11 of every year, starting in 1971 in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October (October 25, 1971;^[11] October 23, 1972; October 22, 1973; October 28, 1974; October 27, 1975; October 25, 1976, and October 24, 1977). In 1978, it was moved back to its original celebration on November 11. While the legal holiday remains on November 11, if that date happens to be on a Saturday or Sunday, then federal government employees and a number of organizations will instead take the day off on the adjacent Friday or Monday, respectively.^[12]"

^Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day

So now you know the rest of the story. Is it any wonder we are confused thinking we honor our living vets and our war dead on Nov 11 the day most of the rest of the world honors their war dead only as we do this weekend with our memorial day.

Edited May 28, 2023 by RV_

[Dutch_12078]

3 hours ago, sandsys said:

I wonder if he was a Boy Scout? I can imagine scouts being taught such things. I wasn't taught that as a Girl Scout but I was a scout back when it was called Decoration Day and my father marched with the American Legion's drum and bugle corps.

Linda

I didn't hear it all, but my impression was that they had studied the history in school in the lead up to the holiday.

[sandsys]

3 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I didn't hear it all, but my impression was that they had studied the history in school in the lead up to the holiday.

That's a sign of a good teacher. Glad to hear it.

Linda

[Ray,IN]

It is a somber day for me. I have traced my military roots to the revolutionary war.  When I learned the history of Decoration Day, it originated with Confederate widows after the civil war.

[RV_]

Thanks Ray, somber for me and most veterans. Here's that story.

https://www.military.com/holidays/memorial-day/how-decoration-day-became-memorial-day.html

It became Memorial Day the year I first enlisted in the USAF 1971. Both mine and Lynn's parents served in the USAF as we did for 27 years. We lost friends to war and peacetime military accidents. One kid I grew up with was killed in Vietnam, not in combat, but when the jeep he was in rolled over on post. We have a member here Dick Acker who fought in the Ia Drang Valley with Gen Hal Moore as chronicled in the book "We Were Soldiers Once And Young" written by Joseph Galloway who was embedded with Moore's unit and was in the middle of the battle with then Col. Moore. The movie does it little justice but the book gives a feel for what combat is like more than anything I have ever read.

[TXiceman]

My Dad was a Pearl Harbor survivor and he taught us to honor the military members, past and present on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.  So many younger ones have not been taught these two days are to honor people, not a day of jubilance.

Ken

Edited May 29, 2023 by TXiceman

[RV_]

1 hour ago, TXiceman said:

My Dad was a Pearl Harbor survivor and he taught us to honor the military members, past and present on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.  So many younger ones have not been taught these two days are to honor people, not a day of jubilance.

Ken

Ken, I would be very proud indeed.

[Payroll Person]

As an adult, I came to learn my relatives fought on both sides of the civil war, one set essentially conscripted off a reservation. My own grandfather volunteered at the end of WWI, and again at the beginning of WWII. He tried again for Korea, but was deemed too old as he was in his early 50’s. As a boy, I remember him telling me he served and saw enough for me and my kids. I never knew the full story until I found one of his WWII dog tags amongst my mother’s keepsakes.

So for this day, we proudly fly the US and Choctaw flags to honor personal heroes as well as those who serve and served us all.

I also remember those who kept their word to the Filipino community, as my other grandfather made the awful decision to return to the Philippines with one of his kids and left his wife and other son in the US (what they called the repatriation act). All 4 of my grandparents were and will always be the greatest generation. 

My son got to visit Normandy. He called me from there and we talked about all the grandparents and great grandparents who protected us. He tells us he remembers that moment every time he volunteers at the VA hospital. 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Payroll Person

[RV_]

Payroll a great military wartime heritage in your family tree.

Thanks for the stories!

[sandsys]

16 hours ago, RV_ said:

Payroll a great military wartime heritage in your family tree.

Thanks for the stories!

X2