This Week’s Focus Point: Memorial Day Special

In memorium. In memory of. Remembrance.

All words that signify and define the word, “memorial.”

I can’t imaging what it would have felt like on June 6, 1944. To be 21 years old, standing on a Navy ship, and set to be on a landing party to the beaches in Normandy. The odds said that you’d be a casualty and you knew it. The chill of the wind and the rain in the Atlantic just off the shore of France, and far away from wherever you hailed from.

By the time the fighting was over, there would be 4,414 confirmed dead, and over 10,000 casualties. That scene I describe can certainly be played out over centuries. Men and women facing certain death, yet risking all for all for country.

My dad spent 30 years in the Navy and fought in World War II. He wasn’t at Normandy, but was at the North African Invasion and certainly survived the war. He was always quick to point out that Memorial Day was not the day to honor those that served, but those that died. Those that gave the greatest sacrifice. Veterans Day is the day to honor all, Memorial Day was the day to honor the fallen. I’ve never forgotten that.

Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor the dead. President James Garfield presided over the first “decoration day” at Arlington National Cemetery in 1868 where 20,000 graves were “decorated” for both Union and Confederate soldiers. Today we honor all those that have fallen in wars, conflicts, and service from the Revolutionary War to the present. Let’s all remember this as we take a holiday break from our labors to recall those that gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can.

In memorium. In memory of. Remembrance.