Carol Fisher-Linn
A solemn time to remember those who gave everything.
Did you know that each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3pm local time? 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a holiday filled with picnics and adventures and fun seems like an inconvenient time to stop for a few moments to remember our fallen, doesn’t it? Before you dismiss the thought of trying to remember to watch the time, please let me tell you why you might want to do it.
According to a May 29, 2023 article in The Washington Post, the idea came from a woman named Carmella LaSpada, who asked a group of children touring Lafayette Square in Washington what Memorial Day meant. At least one responded: “That’s the day the pools open!” Ouch! She wanted children to understand the true, deeper meaning of Memorial Day.
Background: LaSpada was a White House Special Projects Aide during the VietNam War who arranged a USO tour with journalist, humorist Art Buchwald. During a hospital visit, LaSpada met an injured medic who, before he was wounded, watched 35 men die in his unit. He asked her to promise to do something to remember these heroes. She promised she would and created “No Greater Love” (NGL). One of the many things NGL has initiated is the National Moment of Silence (1997) which was formally established by an act of Congress in December 2000 and is sponsored by the White House Commission on Remembrance, thanks to the championing of Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) who proposed a bill that would “encourage citizens to dedicate themselves to the values and principles for which those heroes … died”.
The Memorial Day holiday (previously knowns as Decoration Day) stems from the American Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 service members — both Union and Confederate. That is equal to the entire population of the city of Milwaukee today. The entire US population in the 1870 census was 38,558,371. Do the math … that was almost 1.56% of the entire 1870 population. The total number of all Americans killed in all our wars is 1.1 million, equivalent to the entire state of Rhode Island. In today’s population of over 341.5 million people, maybe 1.1 million seems insignificant … that is, unless you are that Gold Star Parent with the star in the back window of their vehicle with the name of their loved one and the date of his/her death probably in a stinky, filthy ditch or on an air mission in a foreign land. One name on the Viet Nam wall may seem like nothing to some, but to the over 58,000 family members of those names represented there it means everything. Go visit the wall yourself, and quietly observe (and indeed, it is quiet, except for the sobbing) as people reach up or stoop down, some lifted out of wheelchairs to stand in honor, as they silently and gently trace the letters of the names of their precious loved ones with tear filled eyes. To them, it is a very big thing, because, you see, in some cases, that’s all some survivors have since those missing in action are also listed.
Memorial Day was first known as Decoration Day because military graves were decorated with freshly blooming May flowers. In the late 1990’s historians at Harvard University unearthed some dusty records which told of a commemoration by a handful of Black freed people shortly after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865, likely one of the first.
It may be a tough ask to give special honor on this unofficial “first day of the summer season” because, for so many modern young Americans these wars and their subsequent casualties are distant, creating a sense of disengagement. When I grew up in the 50’s, we were very much aware of war and its consequences between WWII (1941-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953). The Viet Nam War, (1962-1973), the Persian Gulf War (1991), the War in Afghanistan (2001-2021) and the War in Iraq (2003-2011) brought home the horrors and reality of boots-on-the-ground war. We lived with it, daily. I grew up knowing the Marine and Navy hymns before I knew Twinkle Twinkle little star. I saved rubber bands, string and aluminum foil from gum and cigarette wrappers for the war effort. We were all in.
Imagine, every one of these modern-day engagements plus WWI (1917 – 1918) and the Civil War (1861-1865) were fought by mostly young men (some women – more in modern warfare) who bravely – or not so bravely – put their lives on the line and ultimately lost them. So, yes, it’s a day for grilling, biking, hiking, boating and maybe even pool splashing, but it’s also a day to honor their ultimate sacrifice as we remember: all gave some, but Memorial Day is to remember those who gave their all. So, join me at 3o’clock on Monday, May 27th to stop for one minute to reflect on the sacrifices that U.S. military members have made. It only takes a moment to help put the “memorial” back into Memorial Day as LaSpada had hoped.