“Memorial Day”
May 27, 2022
By Jim Culp
Monday the 30st
of May will come very soon. It is a great day of celebrating the lives of great
men, and the mourning of their deaths in service to the United States of
America. Many people (despite our attempts to educate the ignorant) still think
this day is Veteran’s Day. It’s not.
Veteran’s Day is a day to
thank all service persons in uniform for their current service, past service,
or in training to serve.
Memorial Day is a
different animal. It is set aside each year for this purpose. Formerly called
“Decoration Day,” it was changed in 1971 to officially be named Memorial Day.
This holiday has several customs, such as placing tiny USA flags on gravestones.
This is done in my “second hometown” of Silver City, New Mexico where a group
performs this every year. A friend I grew up with in that town is a former
Marine and is part of it. My mother and my stepfather (a World War II veteran)
are buried there. This cemetery of part of the old Army hospital and base at
Fort Bayard, NM. This hospital is famous for their part in caring for and
curing hundreds of World War I soldiers that were attacked with chlorine gas.
The dry air and abundant sunshine made them well again; they had endured months
of war on cold and wet battle fields of then war-torn Europe.
Teach your children about
the cost of freedom. Someday, they will need to know the difference.
RIP Mike J. Walmsley Operation Desert Storm
RIP William J. Blake Operation Iraqi Freedom I
Jim
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