Memorial Day
25/May/2009 10:36 Filed in: Oikos Thoughts
As I was placing flowers on the graves of my mother and father last Friday at the cemetery just outside Wilbur, Washington, I was struck by the number of graves that had military inscriptions. Many of those began with designations such as, PVT WWI, or CPL WWII, SGT Korea, etc. Many of these men were not killed in action, but many lived twenty to fifty years beyond their military service, but chose in some way to memorialize in their death, their service to the United States of America.
Every grave stone in the Wilbur Cemetery that has an interned veteran as an adhered medallion that signifies their service, and many more, as such as my uncle Bob, have a more pronounced remembrance as part of their actual stone. Today and over the weekend, American flags fly above each and every one of those graves, as a Memorial to their actions, triumphs and lives.
As I stopped by my grandmothers grave, I recalled she always used the term Decoration Day. In that plot are buried my great grandparents on my grandfathers side, as well as my uncle Vernon who had a military funeral just about a year ago. A few miles further out in the country at Sherman are buried relatives on my grandmother’s side of the family. All in all you can trace births and deaths beginning before the Civil War and lives lived within about twenty miles dating back one hundred thirty years.
On my dad’s side of the family you would need to stop at Reardan on the way back to Spokane to see his family history, and to see his parents graves you would have to go to a large cemetery just outside Spokane.
The funny thing about life, as I now reflect on how rapidly it is passing, I consider that military service to also be a tremendous blessing. Any of these writings that deal with leadership stem from working within a company of reluctant volunteers on Viet Nam’s European Front. Rank came easy at that time but I just recalled after I was promoted to Captain, our Command Sergeant Major, coming to me privately and saying, “Welcome to the Officer Corp, Captain,” reflecting that even with his military success, that would be one honor he could never achieve.
When you look at America in the twenty-first century, that Memorial heritage does not seem that important anymore. Perhaps historically we shall see this is the greatest causative agent which has led to this time of economic uncertainty. The trivial pursuit of money, has caused us to neglect the important wealth, that which each human being begins this pilgrimage, and how much we tend to squander it for the trivial along the way.
An appropriate Memorial Day video: REVEILLE
Bugles Across America providing live buglers for every veterans funeral.
Every grave stone in the Wilbur Cemetery that has an interned veteran as an adhered medallion that signifies their service, and many more, as such as my uncle Bob, have a more pronounced remembrance as part of their actual stone. Today and over the weekend, American flags fly above each and every one of those graves, as a Memorial to their actions, triumphs and lives.
As I stopped by my grandmothers grave, I recalled she always used the term Decoration Day. In that plot are buried my great grandparents on my grandfathers side, as well as my uncle Vernon who had a military funeral just about a year ago. A few miles further out in the country at Sherman are buried relatives on my grandmother’s side of the family. All in all you can trace births and deaths beginning before the Civil War and lives lived within about twenty miles dating back one hundred thirty years.
On my dad’s side of the family you would need to stop at Reardan on the way back to Spokane to see his family history, and to see his parents graves you would have to go to a large cemetery just outside Spokane.
The funny thing about life, as I now reflect on how rapidly it is passing, I consider that military service to also be a tremendous blessing. Any of these writings that deal with leadership stem from working within a company of reluctant volunteers on Viet Nam’s European Front. Rank came easy at that time but I just recalled after I was promoted to Captain, our Command Sergeant Major, coming to me privately and saying, “Welcome to the Officer Corp, Captain,” reflecting that even with his military success, that would be one honor he could never achieve.
When you look at America in the twenty-first century, that Memorial heritage does not seem that important anymore. Perhaps historically we shall see this is the greatest causative agent which has led to this time of economic uncertainty. The trivial pursuit of money, has caused us to neglect the important wealth, that which each human being begins this pilgrimage, and how much we tend to squander it for the trivial along the way.
An appropriate Memorial Day video: REVEILLE
Bugles Across America providing live buglers for every veterans funeral.