In May of 1868, General John Logan proclaimed Decoration Day as a day of reflection and remembrance for the sacrifices of military service members by having flowers placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers. Decoration Day was unofficially changed to Memorial Day in 1882 and in 2011 we continue to acknowledge the valued service of our military by reflecting on the same sacrifices: duty, honor, country.
As a veteran I feel it is my duty to remind Alaskans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, a day that sometimes gets distorted, lost in commercialism or drowned in forgetful indulgence. The true meaning of Memorial Day becomes at times distant or vague and there is a failure to recognize the magnitude of the deeds and sacrifice of our servicemen and women.
Since the first colonial soldiers took up arms in 1775 in their fight for independence, more than a million service members have made the ultimate sacrifice in defending this great nation. My generation lost over 58,000 and the sacrifice given by "teammates" on a fateful day in September 1970, will forever set on my soul. Memorial Day just amplifies the pain.
World War I veteran Frank Buckles served his country and his generation lost over 400,000. He reflected during a 2010 Memorial Day ceremony, as the last living veteran of his generation, on the sacrifice of his "brothers in arms." Frank Buckles died this past February at 110 years old and was buried with honors at Arlington. A generation of soldiers is now gone. We are losing members of our "Greatest Generation" from World War II at a rate of over 1,000 per day and the next generation may well witness the passing of another generation of soldiers, and so the sacrifice continues. Let us not forget.
Today's generation fighting the War on Terror continues the sacrifice in the name of freedom, still another generation who hold true to the notion that evil and tyranny must not prevail regardless of the cost. This generation of warriors, as generations of warriors past, carries in their heart the words of Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
In 2008 I traveled across America with a retired first sergeant, visiting the grave sites and respective families of soldiers who he lost in Iraq the previous year. It was a painful journey. Though a generation apart I shared his loss, as he felt mine of some 38 years past... "different mud, same blood." We have a shared reflection and remembrance and respect for one another and as veterans we will gather to honor our fallen comrades collectively on this day. For some of us our time together may have been brief, but bonds were formed and our brotherhood intensified through sharing of our tears, our laughter.
Memorial Day needs to be valued as a reminder to honor those who have served. If nothing else, we should all take a minute of our lives on this day to reflect on the sacrifice and service of those that protect the freedom we so cherish and give a moment of remembrance and respect.
"It is the Soldier, not the reporter, who has given us Freedom of the Press. It is the Soldier, not the poet, who has given us Freedom of Speech. It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the Freedom to demonstrate. It is the Soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial; and it is the Soldier who salutes the flag, who serves the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag who allows the protester to burn the flag."
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