“I believe it is the nature of people to be heroes, given the chance.”
Memorial Day
A handful of old men walking down the village street
In worn, brushed uniforms, their gray heads high;
A faded flag above them, one drum to lift their feet—
Look again, O heart of mine, and see what passes by!
There’s a vast crowd swaying, there’s a wild band playing,
The streets are full of marching men, or tramping cavalry.
Alive and young and straight again, they ride to greet a mate again—
The gallant souls, the great souls that live eternally!
A handful of old men walking down the highways?
Nay, we look on heroes that march among their peers,
The great, glad Companions have swung from heaven’s byways
And come to join their own again across the dusty years.
There are strong hands meeting, there are staunch hearts greeting—
A crying of remembered names, of deeds that shall not die.
A handful of old men?—Nay, my heart, look well again;
The spirit of America today is marching by!
– Theodosia Pickering Garrison
I went to my town’s parade this morning. It lasted about five minutes, but that didn’t matter, only the occasion did. An old soldier and an old sailor walked in front of a WW II jeep to the music of bagpipes. A newer jeep carried two of their comrades, too old to walk. The middle school band played well. Boy scouts and girl scouts carried small flags and waved at the people along the roadside. It may have been small, but it was heartfelt.
Tags: Memorial Day, parade, World War II
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 30, 2011 at 10:55 am
The Univesal Soldier lay to rest
They fought for the cause
they were the best.
May 30, 2011 at 7:29 pm
morpfy,
All i can say is amen to that.
May 30, 2011 at 1:42 pm
We have nothing like it here, we haven´t been to war for almost two hundred years.
I hope You will have a great holiday!
Christer.
May 30, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Christer,
I wish we could make the same claim about war. We have been in far too many.
The parade lasted about 5 minutes. I’ll post pictures tonight.
May 30, 2011 at 3:26 pm
We went to the Veterans Center and heard Danny McKnight give a wonderful Memorial Day speech. Now it’s off to the pool party.
May 30, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Z&Me,
No pools open here-the pine pollen is covering the world in lime green.
The town’s ceremony was at the bandbox close to here. I heard a speech or two and left.
May 30, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Today President Obama placed a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery. I have always wondered how they know that the remains entombed are American soldiers and not the remains of the enemy since their identity is unknown? Which really begs the question, does it really matter? Honoring the men and woman who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom should be remembered. We should also remember that our former enemies may someday become our friends.
May 30, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Bob,
I never thought about the remains. Maybe the soldier died early in the battle on the US side of the battleground so they figured he was America.
I doubt it really matters. Whoever he was, he died for his country-made the supreme sacrifice.
June 2, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Not to get morbid about it, but the WWI & WWII remains were probably selected from a group of soldiers who had hit by artillery fire: They could be identified as Americans by their uniforms & equipment but their dog tags were doubtlessly missing.
Civil War soldiers frequently lost their ID tags & never had them replaced, so there are many, many unknowns from that war.
Since the Vietnam War the US Graves Registration Service has done an excellent job of identifying American remains so that families can have some closure.
Your post re Memorial Day was excellent, Katry.
June 2, 2011 at 10:11 pm
Buzz,
I didn’t think it morbid. I was glad for the explanation. Because it was a surprise to me that Civil War soldiers also wore dog tags, I did a bit of sleuthing and found this on Wikipedia, “During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, some soldiers pinned paper notes with their name and home address to the backs of their coats. Other soldiers stencilled identification on their knapsacks or scratched it in the soft lead backing of the Army belt buckle.
Manufacturers of identification badges recognized a market and began advertising in periodicals. Their pins were usually shaped to suggest a branch of service and engraved with the soldier’s name and unit. Machine-stamped tags were also made of brass or lead with a hole and usually had (on one side) an eagle or shield and such phrases as “War for the Union” or “Liberty, Union, and Equality”. The other side had the soldier’s name and unit and sometimes a list of battles in which he had participated.
A New Yorker named John Kennedy wrote to the U.S. Army in 1862, offering to furnish discs for all officers and men in the Federal Army, enclosing a design for the disc. The National Archives now has the letter along with the reply, a summary refusal without explanation.”