The irresistibility for politicians and luminaries to make Memorial Day about themselves is too strong. You know they will do it. You know they will frame it to make themselves look fantastic, and their political opposition to look poor by comparison.
I wish they wouldn’t.
If there is any theme about Memorial Day we ought to be emphasizing, it’s a fact it isn’t about burnishing someone’s reputation. It’s about giving your life to our country, our country’s principles and doing it not only for the citizens of our country but the citizens of the world.
I was reminded of that when I read this during the morning.
The girl said she began shouting the good news to her sisters: "Momma's right, she's right. It's all going to be ok… the Americans are here."
I am reminded of that when I read or listen to oral histories about cities, towns, and concentration camps being liberated during WW2. “The Americans are here.”
John Kass had a wonderful homily about Memorial Day. It’s worth your time to read it. Kass writes;
Our war dead didn’t risk or lose their lives to be praised and petted with flowery words. They knew they were led to slaughter by fine words from the double-tongues about great honor and great sacrifice. But they also knew this:
They had a job to do, protecting our liberty and our nation with their bodies and blood.
I suppose they hoped, as Americans, that we would live up to our half of the bargain and not dishonor the freedom they’d given to us, that was bought with their lives.
When you chat with people who were in an active battle, they mostly talk about helping the people immediately to their right and left survive. Medal of Honor recipient Allan Lynch is an acquaintance of mine. A reporter recently did a story about him. He said,
“The one thing that we need to understand is none of us went into the military to sacrifice our lives. We went in and we went in to sacrifice our time. The best time of our life when a lot of people are building their careers; we chose to go into the military to serve our country, to sacrifice our time, our effort, our energy, but we did not go in to sacrifice our life,” Lynch stated.
“And I think it’s important because, I think when we say they sacrificed their lives, we’re kind of pushing the responsibility to the men and women that have lost their lives in service to our country.”
Poignant.
Here is a longish video of the description of being liberated by American soldiers from the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans.
Can you imagine? Can you imagine their relief, and happiness to see an American? Can you imagine the luck of being on the Western Democratic side of the Iron Curtain after the war? The Russians liberated, but they also captured, enslaved, and imprisoned.
I don’t think that the feelings of slaves in the South were much different than Jews in the camps when the Union Army freed them. I don’t think the feelings of people during the Revolution were much different when Americans freed them from the British. If you speak with Koreans or Vietnamese people, they speak glowingly about American soldiers.
This flag isn’t a terrorist symbol or a symbol of racism. It’s a symbol of freedom.
It was built and consecrated by thousands of people like these guys.
This past year, Richard Duchossois passed away at 100. I knew Mr. D. The first time I met him, I had lunch with him. I was so impressed and touched by him that I remarked, “Mr. D. Can I work for you for a couple of weeks and be your coffee boy?” He thought I was joking. I’d have done it in a heartbeat.
None of the people, Mr. D and a Medal of Honor recipient Walt Ehlers whom I knew, saw themselves as a hero and none of them used the war for politics. They felt deeply about the people they served with that didn’t come back. The ones that didn’t come back were the heroes. No matter which side of the political aisle they were from, they saw America as a shining city on a hill. A beacon.
There are plenty of people in the world that would like to see that beacon snuffed out. By any means necessary. They’d love to fundamentally change America.
They shouldn’t, and we can’t let them.
Thank you for posting this.