Thursday, May 22, 2008
Memorial Day: A solemn remembrance of battles fought, heroes lost
Jim Wallace knows that over the years, the meaning of Memorial Day has faded from a solemn day of remembrance to a "Big Memorial Day Sale" at the local mall or the unofficial start of summer.
The 61-year-old UAW Local 898 retiree from the Rawsonville, Mich., Ford plant says it's a sad fact that many don't remember -- or worse, ignore -- the original purpose of Memorial Day.
Wallace, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968, is an original member of the UAW National Veterans Advisory Council and the Region 1A representative. Every year, he makes sure he remembers his brothers and sisters who died to protect our way of life.
"Many people do not really know what that day stands for and we shouldn't blame them," Wallace said in notes to a 2002 remembrance he wrote for the day titled, "Memorial Day ... Remembering (for our Fallen Brothers and Sisters)." (20 KB).
"The blame belongs to all of us. We need to politely teach it to others, pass it down to our children, make it a family tradition, help return it to what the day really means to this country."
Wallace added that it's important to bring back the full meaning of the holiday now because so many from the World War II, Korea and Vietnam generation are leaving us, to be replaced by those who served in the first Gulf War and Iraq and Afghanistan
He wrote these words to help him -- and others -- recall lives lost in battle for our nation:
"I remember people. Faces, personalities and human events still crowd my days and nights with pleasure and pain. I can remember entire conversations and events in explicit detail, as if they just happened. But I can not remember the names of more than a few, and I don't know why that is. I remember the parting face of the chopper pilot, who took an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) in the nose of that chopper, not 600 yards after lifting off, and turned it into a ball of fire. ... I remember every detail of it, but not his name. I remember a kid who drove his Jeep over a 105 mm booby-trap mine, and there was little left of him, or the Jeep. I remember the quiet calm of the guy who told me he was sorry, and assured me that I would be OK, after he stepped on a mortar-round booby trap. All this while I held what was left of him in my arms, and Doc filled him with enough morphine to kill a horse, because he was cut in half at the waist, and we knew he wouldn't survive the chopper ride back to 3rd Med.
Of the many I knew, I kick myself for remembering so few, especially on Memorial Day, when I should be able to remember each and every one of them. They are the ones who paid for Memorial Day! This is their day! I will not spoil it by forgetting even one of them!
God will help me, and I will remember from this day forth, I will carry their memory and spirit with me as a living reminder of their ultimate sacrifice and dedication to God, Country, Duty, and Honor. My memory of them shall not pass gently into the night, as long as I have breath in my body to shout to the world: REMEMBER! For your own sake. REMEMBER!"