Remembering why we honor Memorial Day (hint it's not the 2 for 1 sale)

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   mike102771posted 8 years ago

   As I sit here working on a story I am looking up at a picture of my Uncle Eddie in his uniform. He served in Vietnam from 69 to 71. Most people say he was different after he came home. He died back in 75 so I don't remember him that much. I wonder who he would have been if he hadn't gone to the Army. Would he have had a family with kids and maybe even grand-kids? Then there was my uncle Jimmy. He served in Korea. He was one of the best men I had the privilege to know. Did the Army make him that? My dad drove a truck in Germany in the 50's for the Army. I wonder what they would all think of me doing nothing for the country they all served so proudly.
   
   I had to turn the TV off. All the adds for Memorial Day Sales was just driving me crazy. How could a holiday for remembering sacrifice become a day for buying cars and furniture? Does anyone else know a person who says "Happy Memorial Day?"
   
   Please share your thoughts on this day and what it means to you. Also if you find the over commercialization of this holiday great or sickening.

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   colorfuloneposted 8 years ago

   My Dad served in the Navy during WWII. 
   My brother served the Marine Corp during Vietnam. 
   I don't watch TV.

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3. 78

   colorfuloneposted 8 years ago

   Secretary of State Rex Tillerson joined almost one million bikers on Sunday in a massive caravan of motorcycles that rode from the Pentagon to the National Mall and the Vietnam Memorial.
   *  http://www.breitbart.com/big-government … orial-day/
   
   Its wonderful to see patriotism return to the government and to see such great images.   
   
   President Donald Trump honored fallen members of the United States military on Memorial Day, laying a wreath at the Tomb of Unknowns at the Arlington National Cemetery
   *  http://www.breitbart.com/big-government … -soldiers/

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4. 96

   MizBejabbersposted 8 years ago

   Having had my dad, his younger brother and an older cousin on my dad's side, and on my mother's side, her sister serving the WAVES in WWII, and several Rosie the Riveters plus two women federal employees also serving in WWII capacity, one at the Pentagon,  My family, both sides, is fortunate that all soldiers and sailors came home physically intact. My army father probably would not have survived the Pacific Theater if he had not suffered a heat stroke in Hawaii and been left behind when his unit went on into the war zone. There were many tales in my family, and I'm sure many of you have tales you could repeat. We are proud of our military and their families.
   Memorial Day, just like Christmas, Easter and the Fourth of July has just become, as one radio announcer put it, just another opportunity for a mattress sale. I wish everybody would do what I do:  Stay home and not darken the door of any store except to buy necessary food when we run out. My husband is a Vietnam veteran and we are getting on in our years and no longer have the energy to go participate in any of the legitimate celebrations of Memorial Day, but we remember in our hearts the lives of those who fell. I did watch the president install the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The gesture was touching.

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