By Tom Madden
I marched in the Memorial Day parade for the first time with the Boy Scouts in 1958. I was eleven. There were veterans of World War I in the parade. I thought they were the oldest people in the world, and it’s sobering to think that they were younger then than I am now. I was part of the baby boom after World War II. My father and my uncles served during the war. So did many of my neighbors and the fathers of my friends. So did the mailman and the barber. One of my teachers served in the Women’s Army Corps. They turned out for the parade too. Some of them marched with the National Guard or the reserves. Others marched with the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The scout master marched with us. Others stood on the sidewalk and watched us. They were quiet. Some saluted when marchers with a flag came by.
They were people who had served their country in difficult times, and, when they were young, they saved the world. But they taught us, and showed us through their example, that Memorial Day wasn’t about them. They weren’t there to be honored. They were there to honor the ones who didn’t come home, the ones whose remains were shipped back for burial in military cemeteries or in their home towns and the ones who were buried on a hillside in France, on an island in the Pacific, or anywhere in between.
Memorial Day started out as Decoration Day soon after the Civil War. It was a day when people put flowers on the graves of that war’s veterans. It was observed in different ways and on different days from state to state, but the idea was the same. Eventually, we agreed on a Memorial Day observance at the end of May, an observance in honor of all people who died in service to the United States.
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of Summer. There’s a three-day weekend. School is almost over. We can cook outside. Baseball season is underway. Stores are having blow-out sales. And it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Memorial Day.
Memorial Day is a holiday. We can spend time with our families and our friends. We can enjoy the time off. We can enjoy the parades, the concerts, the cookouts, the baseball games, and even the blow-out sales. But it’s important to remember that it’s a memorial too, a solemn memorial to people who died defending our freedom and keeping us safe. Those World War I veterans I remember turned out to honor their comrades just as veterans always have — and do now. Let’s join them.
Take some time this weekend to remember the sacrifices and to honor the people who made them. Tell your children and your grandchildren too – lest we forget.
The Ridgefield Democratic Town Committee provides this column.