Memorial Day is only one month away. It is almost May and Memorial Day is coming on May 31st.
Here is the complete letter to my local paper that I submitted in 2009. Everything still applies and my beliefs have not changed for 2010.
Memorial Day is a day when we remember friends and neighbors who lost their lives in war. And it is also a day when we remember other members of our families who lived among us but have died. It is a time when we teach important lessons to our children about who they are and where they came from. Their ancestors.
I am a Vietnam War combat veteran and I served as an infantry rifleman with the 1st Cavalry Division. We lived like animals in rice paddies and jungles. Dug a foxhole every night and lived out in the elements. Bugs, leeches and torrential rains. I saw a lot of people die on all sides. I tell friends that I will be in attendance at Memorial Day services. They reply "I can see why you would do that" They are on their way to spend a long weekend camping or just picnicking and sleeping in. Why is it that people think that only veterans should attend these services? Everybody needs to be at these things. This year please bring your kids. I see way too few kids on Memorial Day. Teach them why the day is observed. Show them the graves of their ancestors and tell them who those people were. Tell them how they they came to be in this world in the first place. They are descended from those who came before and these are the graves of those people. Tell them. I will see you at the Benton Veteran's Memorial for services at 2:00 PM on May 31st.
This photo is a picture of me while I was serving in combat in Vietnam. February 1968.
