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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Memorial Reasons Fade Away

By Rory Mcclannahan
Mountain View Telegraph
      Monday is Memorial Day.
       The day was set aside as a holiday called Decoration Day after the Civil War to honor the young men who had died in battle. People honoring those war casualties would decorate graves with wreaths of laurel and flowers.
       Over the years, Decoration Day's name and meaning have changed. After World War I, the holiday celebrated all service members who died in the line of duty, not just Civil War service members.
       Now, for a large number of people, Memorial Day celebrates the beginning of summer.
       I guess that's OK. I sorta like summer.
       I think this shift from solemn holiday to marketing tool has occurred not because people care less about honoring the men and women who have fought for this country, but because we're not sure how we should honor them.
       Many volunteers across the country fan out across cemeteries to place small flags on the grave sites of service members on Memorial Day. I'm sure some towns still have parades, but I don't know of any. Veterans organizations hold ceremonies, with fewer and fewer attending each year. Some of these organizations are even calling on the holiday to be returned to its traditional observance date of May 30 because the three-day weekend somehow cheapens the holiday. Maybe it does, but that day off sure is nice.
       When I was a kid, it wasn't too hard to encounter someone who had been in a war. The numbers bear this out. More than 16 million people served in the military during World War II, and more than 53,000 were killed during that conflict. During the Vietnam War, there were about 8.7 million service members with about 3.4 million serving in Southeast Asia. And 47,424 service members were killed in battle during Vietnam.
       The conflicts of the recent generation involve fewer people and fewer deaths. Desert Shield and Desert Storm had fewer than 700,000 deployed to the Persian Gulf and resulted in 147 battle deaths. And the current Iraq conflict has had 3,319 battle deaths as of May 17.
       The chances of encountering someone who has fought in a war is a lot lower now than in 1973, when I was 7 years old.
       It is easier to marginalize Memorial Day because fewer of us have been affected by war. I served in the Air Force during the waning days of the Cold War, and during my time in the military encountered a few Vietnam-era service members. My father-in-law served in Vietnam. And that is about the extent of my contact with war veterans, with the exception of those who I have talked with as part of my job.
       My sons have even less experience with war veterans.
       So how do we honor the sacrifices of past generations? How do we assure that the men and women who fought and died are not forgotten? I don't have an answer. I try to tell my sons about war, but I don't know if it sinks in or not. We write stories in the newspaper about men who survived to tell the tale about war, but I can't make everyone read them.
       I think this year, I'll take the boys down the road to the cemetery and point out the graves of veterans. Maybe we'll get some flags to plant.
       I just worry that it isn't enough.
       Contact Rory McClannahan at 823-7102 or online at editor@mvtelegraph.com.>   

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