[May 29, 2017] Annually, on Memorial Day I give a speech about the meaning of this very special day. This day is special not just for those citizens of the United States but also for those in foreign lands where our military has gone to protect them from evil. Today, my speech is about what Memorial Day is, why we celebrate it, and why those in faraway places should celebrate with us.
It wasn’t that long ago that I overheard a young woman ask why folks still celebrate Memorial Day and her question got me to thinking of the answer. Mind you, the answer is not what you and I would agree with among ourselves that this special day is sacrosanct to the memories of those who fought and died for our country but a day to celebrate our recognition of our country, the United States of America, that we are free because of the sacrifice of others in our name.
Our Memorial Day ought to have meaning also for those who are not citizens of our country because so many of our dead died in the defense of their freedoms too. When a people agree to celebrate an anniversary, it can be agreed that some thinking of the worth behind it is too large to be ours alone. Whether those who were present for duty when they were called to war and are now buried in the fields of France, Belgium, England, Panama, the Philippines, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Tunisia or right here in America; each and every one of them stood tall when the need arose and now no longer come home. Crosses and stars in marble now symbolize their presence and the painful memory of all those losses; they have now gone to join the Lord, dead but still in their ranks, row upon row in grassy fields. More than any, they have earned our thanks.
We cannot change history and there is certainly nothing but honor in our military service from the Revolutionary War and the desperately fought actions that began 242 years ago to our latest battles with religious fanatics of the Muslim faith; lasting now a generation. But we must do all we can to bring into the fold of our culture that which deems honorable and good; the recognition that ours were the ones who went to foreign soil to free another people that most of us never knew or cared for. They have an obligation as much as a right to celebrate with us those that gave them a second chance for their nation and their families.
An elderly neighbor of mine, while I was just a young Army Captain, told me about his experience at the Third Battle of the Aisne, now 99 years ago today, when his unit supported the French 6th Army and the first for American units that were hastily prepared and sent into the War to End All Wars. Despite massive casualties in the French and British armies in that battle, the Americans had arrived and proved themselves in combat for the first time in World War I. I remember him telling me that he had lost his rifle (and we know how much they drill us in never letting go of our rifle) but since there were thousands just laying around, he said, he picked one up. He was fond of telling me about his Frenchie friends during the war and how much they wanted to see America. Perhaps their children or grandchildren can and should, and perhaps celebrate with us today.
To the unsympathetic observer who asks why Memorial Day is celebrated here in the United States, we can answer because in it we celebrate and affirm from year to year our national act of reverence, enthusiasm, and faith. Today is the 150th time our nation has set aside a day to pay tribute to our fallen. The day embodies our belief that to be a part of our armed services and to fight in war is a condition of acting greatly and most honorably. To fight enemies of our nation, you must believe something and want something with all your might. So it is with anything that we may want desperately. More than that, we must be willing to commit ourselves, often for a time unspecified, to the arduous task to endure the sufferings of battle and deprivations and lack of comfort to reach an end worth reaching. And we will never know how it will come out in the end for us; trusting in fate that it will be for the greater good.
It is not of the dead alone that we think of this day. There are those who, due to circumstances beyond their control, that prohibited them to offer their lives but who instead gave their blessings and happiness. Who has not failed to notice the stranger at any airport in the nation that thanks with open arms the soldier, sailor, Marine, or airman they do not know? Who has not failed to notice the elderly and young, the handicapped, the random changes of life where age, health, or simply luck prevents their participation? For their story we must pass in reverent respect to their strength to support those who go into battle. For their will, their strength, and their support we also say thanks.
Even if I am wrong in my thinking on the significance of Memorial Day, even if those who come after us are to forget what we all hold sacrosanct, it is enough for us that this day remain dear and sacred. To commemorate Memorial Day is not an end of what it is about. Those dead brothers and sisters still live for us and bid us life, a opportunity to do a good like they have done in their time, and to do so where once again we will triumph over evil and keep our lives full of sweet dreams and hope.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. God bless our fallen and God bless the United States of America for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect us and those on foreign soil who were threatened by evil. Good day.
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