thedrifter
05-28-07, 11:22 AM
The last full measure of devotion
Staff report
Posted : Monday May 28, 2007 9:35:41 EDT
Americans began observing Memorial Day during the years after the Civil War by placing wreaths, flowers and flags on the graves of the Union dead. Much about the national day of remembrance has changed, but that tradition persists through the work of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment — the Old Guard — which places small American flags at each of the more than 200,000 graves in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
The public’s observance of Memorial Day’s intended meaning seems to wax and wane depending on the times. During peacetime, when the death and sacrifice of American service members are far from the public’s minds, the holiday — to many — is about barbecues, the beach and a day off work. During times of war, when America’s sons and daughters are fighting and bleeding on foreign soil, Americans cannot help but think of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
But to service members and their families, Memorial Day is always a time of reflection, a day for remembering the dead, and how much we loved them. For while soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen join their countrymen at the beach and at neighborhood picnics, their hearts are always with their brothers and sisters who breathed their last on the killing fields of Gettysburg and the beaches of Normandy, in the jungles of Vietnam and in the street of Baghdad.
SEE MORE
Honor the fallen: A tribute to those who died in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom
www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html
Ellie
Staff report
Posted : Monday May 28, 2007 9:35:41 EDT
Americans began observing Memorial Day during the years after the Civil War by placing wreaths, flowers and flags on the graves of the Union dead. Much about the national day of remembrance has changed, but that tradition persists through the work of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment — the Old Guard — which places small American flags at each of the more than 200,000 graves in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
The public’s observance of Memorial Day’s intended meaning seems to wax and wane depending on the times. During peacetime, when the death and sacrifice of American service members are far from the public’s minds, the holiday — to many — is about barbecues, the beach and a day off work. During times of war, when America’s sons and daughters are fighting and bleeding on foreign soil, Americans cannot help but think of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
But to service members and their families, Memorial Day is always a time of reflection, a day for remembering the dead, and how much we loved them. For while soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen join their countrymen at the beach and at neighborhood picnics, their hearts are always with their brothers and sisters who breathed their last on the killing fields of Gettysburg and the beaches of Normandy, in the jungles of Vietnam and in the street of Baghdad.
SEE MORE
Honor the fallen: A tribute to those who died in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom
www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html
Ellie