Memorial Day Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Mon May 25, 2009 at 09:35:00 AM EST
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A little history of Memorial Day:

It was first observed in 1865 as Decoration Day by liberated slaves, who independently set up, decorated and proclaimed an ad-hoc graveyard – a field of "passionless mounds" – to honor dead Union soldiers.

Here's the original Memorial Day Order: [More...]

The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and comrades will, in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, Comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers sailors and Marines, who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead? We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

What are you doing today to remember those who served? My dad served in WWII, here and in France. A chemist, he enlisted, was a medical supply officer and Lieutenant, assigned to hospitals.

I happened to go out to my mom's storage locker yesterday looking for boxes of photos. It was so dusty and dirty, rather than go through the boxes there, I just put a couple that looked like they might have photos in the car.

When I got home and opened them, one contained a beautiful wooden box of mementos and letters. Among them were my dad's war letters to my Mom from Europe, the telegrams my grandparents sent him when my sister was born, his letter back to my Mom about how joyous he was. His letters were also filled with details about the men he served with, particularly at the 194th General Hospital in France.

The photo box had hundreds of tiny photos, most about 3" square, of his army days, here and in France. One photo showed planes in the sky. On the back, he had written "Headed to Germany" and the date, "April, 1945."

I also found his Army honorable discharge certificate. It listed some medals he had been awarded. And, there were photos and letters between him and my uncles -- all of them decked out in their uniforms.

On my mother's side, she always talked about a favorite cousin who died in Pearl Harbor. One of the photos I found was of a handsome young man on a beach with a lei around his neck. I can't help but think that must have been him. I don't even know his name.

My dad died in 2001 at age 82. While he didn't die in the war, it was always a presence. My Mom died this year, two days before Christmas, at age 85. The war was just as much a factor in her life as it was in my dad's.

There are so many who have given their lives for their country, almost all unknown to us, except for those in our immediate families and circle of friends.

Today is for them.

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Memorial Day Open Thread | 21 comments (21 topical)

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my dad was in korea, (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by cpinva on Mon May 25, 2009 at 03:29:09 AM EST

haiti, the dominican republic and a few other unpleasant places, as a marine. to this day, he's never talked about any of it, aside from mentioning the horrible odor of manure, used as fertilizer in s. korea, that apparently hung in the air all over the country. other than that brief observation, nothing.

my grandfather was in wwI, as part of the AEF, rainbow division, 69th (the fighting 69th, of song and story) battalion. he died the year i was born, so i never met him. however, my dad has all of his certificates, commendations, battle citations, military ID card, etc. the guy was barely 5'5", and maybe 150, soaking wet. he was in every major campaign the AEF fought in, and somehow survived with only some mustard gas inhalation. unfortunately, this came back to haunt him in later years, as it led to parkinson's. he apparently never talked about his war experiences to those who weren't there either.

must be a family trait or something.

on a weird note, my grandfather was called up for WWII, having been in the guard since the end of wwI. it wasn't until he was getting ready to board a troop ship, in san francisco, that someone in authority noticed he was just a tad older than nearly all of the other men with him.

how this got overlooked, until that point, remains a family mystery to this day.

my father, having been in the marines since 1947, and in the korean theater of operations for 6 months, received a nasty letter from his local draft board, in nyc, admonishing him severely, for neglecting to provide them with a current address. the guys in his unit apparently thought that was pretty funny, but urged him to put in for leave, so he could go home and straighten it out. his CO was not amused!

My grandfather never talked about WWII (none / 0) (#4)
by Militarytracy on Mon May 25, 2009 at 07:41:28 AM EST

My Uncle on great occassion would talk about Vietnam. Korea still smells the same, but if you are there long enough you get used to it thank God.


: WWII Vets just don't talk about that war (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by Inspector Gadget on Mon May 25, 2009 at 12:35:56 PM EST

My dad was a Marine in WWII. He lost his right arm in the battle at Pelalu, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. There was a lengthy documentary on TV at the 50th anniversary, and it was awful.
He's nearing 87 and only now has begun to speak of his experiences.

Dgging through old family papers and (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by Anne on Mon May 25, 2009 at 12:20:54 PM EST

such is quite an experience, especially when there is no one who can fill in the blanks, really.

In cleaning out my aunt's house, we discovered that she was the keeper of much of the memorabilia from my grandparents, and she also had a wealth of material from her first husband, the man I considered my real uncle (as opposed to the selfish SOB she married after my uncle died - we're all still trying to figure out how she could ever have been attracted to that awful man), and who was terribly injured as a Marine in the Pacific theater in WWII.

Both my dad and my grandfather served in WWII, although my grandfather was in as a communications consultant (he was an engineer with Bell Labs) with the rank of major, and my dad was just your average 18 yr. old GI drafted like so many others. Interestingly, they were both in Paris at the same time and mangaged to meet at the Eiffel Tower for a meal.

My grandfather was awarded a Bronze Star for his work in restoring communications to a town in Germany that the Allied forces had taken - more interesting is that the townspeople made him an honorary mayor!

Dad was injured and sent to England for surgery and recuperation, just before his unit was sent into the Battle of the Bulge, so that injury may actually have saved his life.

My uncle was an amazing man. He was shot in the spine and in his right hand, all in an effort to protect his men - he ended up a paraplegic, the first such person I ever knew - but he never let it define him. He was awarded both the Silver and Bronze Stars for his actions in two separate incidents. The letters he wrote home after being paralyzed were really profiles in courage. Facing an uncertain future, not knowing how well he would be able to function, his letters to his parents and to my aunt - who was then his fiancee - never revealed how bad things were, were positive, humorous and inspiring. Little did he know, when he thought he was protecting his family from the awful news, that they already knew pretty much everything.

He married my aunt, became an artist with his non-dominant, left hand, and had a successful career as a graphic designer. He had a car with special controls, a platform escalator down to his basement workshop, and the coolest, most modern house - very open, which was necessary for navigating with his wheelchair. He died of kidney cancer at the age of 50; what I have learned about him going through all these materials is a reminder that a good and honorable man left this world way too soon.

Anyway...going through all the papers, letters from various people after my grandfather and my uncle died, looking at the medals and the award letters that accompanied them, the newspaper clippings and photographs - it was like history coming alive. I couldn't help but wish we had been able to go through all this stuff years ago, when my dad and his brother were still alive and my aunt still had her mind and her memory.

And my husband is a Vietnam veteran - quite a different war from WWII and even from Korea, where my father's and aunt's brother served. Dropped to his unit from a helicopter his first day in theater, he joined them as they ran from a jungle burning with napalm...a real baptism of fire.

Military service at a time of war is a sacrifice, even if one comes home alive; it changes a person in large and small ways, some good and some not-so-good. That it is done for love of country, or because Uncle Sam commanded your attendance, it is no small thing, and should be honored and respected, even if we don't always respect the wars being fought.

: what a great history (none / 0) (#21)
by Jeralyn on Mon May 25, 2009 at 04:55:01 PM EST

thanks for sharing it.

My spouse is always very solemn (none / 0) (#3)
by Militarytracy on Mon May 25, 2009 at 07:37:52 AM EST

on this day. He always was even before our current wars. My family always decorated all of our family graves on Memorial Day. I never had a lot of family that had military experience. One grandfather served in WWII as a medic and passed in 1995. My other grandfather did not go because he had lost a kidney. My mom's brother served in Vietnam and sadly committed suicide in the summer of 2005. Today I think about something that I almost never allow myself to dwell on daily right now because I can't function if I do, and that's those we have known and lost since 2003. The number at least hasn't increased our abilities to prevent helicopter shoot down. Many days felt like a wide eyed trauma before that. We will probably have a quiet day. We have some steaks marinating.

: Oops (none / 0) (#5)
by Militarytracy on Mon May 25, 2009 at 07:43:42 AM EST

Meant to type that the numbers hadn't increased lately due to our abilities to prevent shoot downs. It has been a great relief to me.

This is the day (none / 0) (#6)
by Cream City on Mon May 25, 2009 at 10:07:59 AM EST

that my kids' grandfather died, the one they never met -- the one their father, an infant then, never knew. It was a death during WWII and due to WWII but here on the homefront. The man was an engineer and manager of a plant turned over to making munitions, so he was exempted from service to serve here -- where the 24/7 work of the plant put him into exhaustion, and he came down with pneumonia. But all the new penicillin was overseas for the troops. He died within days, barely in his 30s. So my kids always go with his son, a Vietnam vet -- and his mom, who raised him alone and is nearly 100 now -- to decorate grandpa's grave today, too.

Many served in many ways. We think of their other grandpa, my dad who was a conscientious objector at the start of WWII and served in a volunteer job but decided to enlist, after all, when why the "good war" was fought became more clear. And we think of his brothers, also all gone now, who eventually all enlisted among more than four million American men and women in WWII military.

The enormity of that war is evident in a photo of all of them, in uniform, before they served on five different fronts around the world where more than 400,000 American men and women died among 40 million dead, military and civilians -- the majority -- from many countries and continents.

They had a lot of photos talked about that war sometimes. But my kids' dad doesn't often bring out the photos or talk much about Vietnam to this day. So they both took a college history course on the Vietnam War to learn why. . . .

Treatment of POW's in WWII (none / 0) (#7)
by Jeralyn on Mon May 25, 2009 at 10:35:52 AM EST

Here's an interesting report on the medical treatment of German and other POW's during WWII. It talks about the need to comply with the Geneva Conventions of 1929 and the Prisoner of War Convention. In all, the U.S. captured more than 2.5 million German prisoners.

My father served (none / 0) (#8)
by TeresaInSnow2 on Mon May 25, 2009 at 10:38:13 AM EST

in Korea.

I visted the Tahoma National Cemetary a few years ago, actually on the 4th of July. It is an amazing place, amazing tribute.

Here's a pic. Note Mt Rainier off in the distance:

i've become convinced there's no (none / 0) (#9)
by cpinva on Mon May 25, 2009 at 10:39:04 AM EST

such thing as a "good war". necessary perhaps, not good. wwI & II were, for us, necessary, on several levels. still, they resulted in mass destruction and carnage, with ramifications that still resound to this day.

war produces nothing, and uses up scarce, allocable resources, that could be better utilized in peaceful ways. we always hope the sacrifice is worth it, and are never wholly convinced that it is.

: I agree (none / 0) (#10)
by TeresaInSnow2 on Mon May 25, 2009 at 10:53:38 AM EST

There is no good war, IMHO. One side attacks. The other side (often the United States) overcompensates.
However there are good people who serve in wars. They definitely deserve to be honored.

Been watching the DVD (none / 0) (#11)
by brodie on Mon May 25, 2009 at 11:51:20 AM EST

of the BBC production "Island at War", a fictionalized version of the real-life occupation of the British Channel Islands by the Germans in WWII. Never knew about that one.

Another BBC production about wartime matters seen recently and which I recommend is the 1980 program "Oppenheimer", starring a young Sam Waterston (before he got all self-important and politically holier-than-thou). Good stuff there about Oppy's complicated personal life and lefty political associations in Berkeley, then his hounding by the gov't postwar.

Though it doesn't go into the story of the decision-making on whether to use the bomb (and I can't recall any movie which deals in depth with that angle), imo the overly stubborn and unthinking Truman was wrong to give the final go ahead.

Finally this weekend C-Span showed a recent talk by investigative author Edwin Black ("Nazi Nexus") whose many books serve to remind about the unconscionable profit-seeking and even traitorous pro-Nazi activity by certain large American corps and foundations, facts conveniently whitewashed from our history books and media discussion. GM, Ford and IBM in particular belong in the Corporate Hall of Shame.

Of course, since they are so big and powerful, then and now (IBM's founder, for instance, was also a key backer and adviser to FDR), they still enjoy considerable immunity from historical truth telling in the mass media.

You might also like (none / 0) (#12)
by andgarden on Mon May 25, 2009 at 12:16:30 PM EST

It Happened Here.


Thx for the rec. (none / 0) (#15)
by brodie on Mon May 25, 2009 at 12:42:05 PM EST

I've put it at the top of my queue.

The What If? alternative history stuff can be intriguing. Hitler definitely missed his golden opportunity to conquer Britain when he went with the Russian venture instead.

: Invading Russia was a huge mistake (none / 0) (#16)
by andgarden on Mon May 25, 2009 at 12:48:25 PM EST

But it's not clear to me that he would have been able to successfully invade Britain so quickly after Dunkirk. Operation Sealion was largely fantasy, mostly because Germany didn't have anywhere near the number of landingcraft it would have needed. Also, no air superiority.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (none / 0) (#19)
by Cream City on Mon May 25, 2009 at 03:56:27 PM EST

is a marvelous novel about the German occupation of Jersey, one of the Channel isles, and about the quiet and sly sort of resistance there. A good read, especially for the fun of finding out the history behind the name of the book club.:-)


My uncle fought (none / 0) (#17)
by gyrfalcon on Mon May 25, 2009 at 01:04:01 PM EST

in the Spanish Civil War. When he and the others came home, the U.S. government declared them "premature anti-Fascists" and took away their passports, their right to vote, and barred them from serving in the U.S. military when we finally got into WWWII.

Like many of his comrades, he joined up instead with the Merchant Marines and served in the incredibly hazardous South Pacific routes. One of his ships was torpedoed and sank with many lives lost, and he and the other survivors went through one of those hellish experiences of clinging together in and around lifeboats with some of them being picked off by sharks before they were rescued by another ship the next day.

So let's also remember the nearly forgotten service -- and many, many deaths and injuries -- of the Merchant Marines in WWII, who were denied veteran's status and services until many years after the war was over.

: Abraham Lincoln Brigade? (none / 0) (#18)
by andgarden on Mon May 25, 2009 at 01:14:08 PM EST

I am in Forest Park in St. Louis (none / 0) (#20)
by oculus on Mon May 25, 2009 at 04:09:23 PM EST

@ the memorial to veterans of the war in Korea. "This memorial is to honor those who committed themselves and those who made the supreme sacrifice for the frredom of a nation threatened by communism.".

My uncle was out of the air force working in Denver and building a home but suddely hw was back in the USAF and in Korea.

"My Mom died this year, (none / 0) (#22)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue May 26, 2009 at 11:57:14 AM EST

two days before Christmas."

J, I did not know this. My sincere condolences.

fwiw, at the LA National Cemetery, the small American Flags that are placed in front of the 85,000+ grave markers for Memorial Day are all placed there by the local scout troops.

If the picture you used in this thread is from the LA National Cemetery the flags in the photo may have been placed there by one of my children or their friends...