Memorial Day, 2009

by Paul Lemmond

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service during war; those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the very freedom that we have in this nation, and that many take for granted. Memorial Day is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

I believe that we must strive to ensure that the generations to follow  will fully appreciate the sacrifices that so many have made, and the sorrow their families have had to endure, so that the rest of us can live in relative peace and security.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery , in Arlington , Virginia .

A former professor of law at Harvard was wounded at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff in 1862, and again at Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862 when there were 23,000 casualties on both sides of the Civil War that day. He was wounded a third time at Fredericksburg in 1863.

On Memorial Day, 1886, this man, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., one of the preeminent justices in the history of our Supreme Court, delivered an address to his comrades from the Northern Army of the Civil War. In addressing the purpose of Memorial Day, and with eloquence, Justice Holmes stated:

“…now is a moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life, and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return.” You may recognize those last words which were paraphrased by John Kennedy in his inaugural address in 1961.

Memorial Day is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May because Congress passed the National Holiday Act of 1971 to create a three day weekends for Federal holidays,

In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael wrote this poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need.

In 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies.

Traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished somewhat over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. Some think of it merely as a time off from school or work, a great BBQ day, or perhaps as a day for memorializing the death of just anyone they may have been close to.

There are some notable exceptions to this such as:  

 Beginning in the late 1950's, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery . They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.

In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day.

More recently, in Virginia, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

I grew up in Arlington . My 9^th birthday was 4 days before the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, and a family friend was killed with the sinking of the Battleship Oklahoma . I recall Memorial Day parades in Washington .

 I have heard many stories of sacrificial bravery in WWII, Korea , Viet Nam , Desert Storm , Afghanistan and Iraq . Such men all died in combat to save others such as a soldier throwing his body on a grenade to save others around him; or a marine covering others going back for more ammo or reinforcements; or a sailor throwing his life vest to another after their ship was sunk; or an Air Force Pilot and gunner who stay with a badly shot-up bomber with a wounded crew member who could not bail out when the pilot ordered all the crew to do so.

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The pilot and gunner knew the bomber had little, if any, chance to make it home, but would not abandon their wounded crew member, as long as there was a glimmer of hope.

Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus told the twelve: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

There are also many in the military service who risked their life for the comrades, and lived through it. In WWII many Hollywood actors served in the military, and many in combat. Three of our presidents served during WWII. Sports stars served, in fact Bob Feller is the Marshall of the Parade today in Washington . But mainly it is the young man next door, or from out in the country who joins up when the U.S. enters a war. I’ll give you an example  from WWI, and an example from WWII.

Alvin York was born in Tennessee in 1887. He was third of eleven children in a family that relied on subsistence farming and hunting for a living, which they did in a two-room log cabin. He had almost no formal education but was skilled using a rifle at an early age. This helped put food on the table and many years later it would play a large part in his receiving the Nation’s highest award, The Congressional Medal of Honor.

Alvin received his draft notice in 1917. Due to his church he claimed to be a conscientious objector. This was denied because his church did not qualify for such exemption. So Alvin went to war. In 1918 along with 16 other men he was ordered on a mission. Due to misreading French maps they wound up behind enemy lines. Bullets began flying. With his marksmanship skills Alvin was cutting down the Germans from 300 yards, and when foot soldiers tried to attack him, he calmly used a Colt .45 to shoot all ten of them, starting with the man in the rear.

When the dust had settled some 20 Germans and 9 of the Americans lay dead, and amazingly, 132 Germans surrendered to the remaining 8 Americans, obviously not realizing how small Alvin York’s contingent was.

Alvin York was awarded the Medal of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre, and promoted to Sergeant.

The WWII “G.I Joe” example I give you is Audie Murphy. He was born in Texas in 1926 to poor sharecroppers, and grew up on farms. He was the sixth of twelve children, nine of whom survived until the age of eighteen. He went to school until the eighth grade, when he dropped out to help support his family (his father deserted them in 1936).

Audie was working for a dollar a day, plowing and picking cotton on any farm that would hire him. He became very skilled with a rifle, hunting small game to help feed the family.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Audie (then just 15 years old) tried to enlist in the military, but the services rejected him for being underage. In June 1942, shortly after his 16th birthday (sister Corrine adjusted his birth date so he appeared to be 18 and legally allowed to enlist), Audie was accepted into the Army after being turned down by the Marines and the paratroopers for being too short (5'5") and of slight build. His initial company commander tried to have him transferred to a cook and bakers' school because of his baby-faced youthfulness, but Audie insisted on becoming a combat soldier. His wish was granted.

He was in combat in Italy and in France . His heroic actions are too numerous for me to mention this morning, however, I‘ll give you a synopsis of the action that resulted in his being awarded the Medal of Honor.

He was wounded in the hip by a sniper's ricocheting bullet 12 days after the promotion to Lt. and spent ten weeks recuperating. Within days of returning to his unit, and still bandaged, he became company commander (January 25, 1945), and suffered further wounds from a mortar round which killed two others nearby.

The next day, January 26, with the temperature 14 °F and 24 inches of snow on the ground, a battle began with Audie Murphy's unit at an effective strength of 19 out of 128. Murphy sent all of his men to the rear while he took pot-shots at the Germans until out of ammunition. He then proceeded to use an abandoned, burning tank destroyer's .50 caliber machine gun to cut into the German infantry at a distance including one full squad of German infantry that had crawled in a ditch to within 100 feet of his position. Wounded in the leg during heavy fire, he continued this nearly single-handed battle for almost an hour.

His focus on the battle before him stopped only when his telephone line to the artillery fire direction center was cut by either U.S. or German artillery. As his remaining men came forward, he quickly organized them to conduct a counter attack, which ultimately drove the enemy away. For these actions he was awarded the Medal of Honor. In 27 months of combat action, Audie Murphy became one of the most highly decorated United States soldiers of World War II. He received the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Stars, and 3 Purple Hearts, among 32 U.S. and foreign medals and citations, including five from France and one from Belgium.

Alvin York and Audie Murphy are truly military hero icons. They willingly placed themselves in heavy harm’s way. They survived the wars.

Memorial Day is set aside to honor those who did not survive in combat. Many of you have friends or family who have sacrificed their lives in combat. Me too.

Some of you may have read in yesterday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch about the gathering at Hopewell H.S. to remember a 30 year old airman and graduate of Hopewell H.S., Phillip Andrew Myers, who was killed in Afghanistan .  He left a wife and two young children.

This morning’s paper listed Virginia ’s war dead in Afghanistan and Iraq . This list included Marine Private Michael M. Carey….of Prince George , Virginia .

Semper Fi.

In summing up the meaning and purpose of Memorial Day Jerry Ellis, of the VFW, at the Hopewell gathering, quoted a saying among veterans: “All give some, some give all. Tech. Sgt. Myers gave it all, not in death, but in life.”

I thank you for the honor of being here with you today.

May God bless those who have died to protect our freedoms and may God bless America .