I've written several poems and one speech concerning Memorial Day. I post them each year as my little tribute. I hope it reminds some and causes just a moment or two of pause. We all need that occasionally. Thinking back upon my time in the service and all those men I served with I do think about them and wonder about them. I am very fortunate that during my time I never lost anyone in battle. I myself never experienced being under direct attack. I had it easy, very easy. And now, in my advancing years, I am struck by just how young we all were. Didn't feel that way at the time, no, we were men! The reality is we were young men, very young men. The "old timers" were in their thirties. Yes, that's correct. Many retired at the age of 38. There is a sign in the convenance store that says, if you look under the age of forty you will be asked for ID before buying any tobacco products. I ask, what does forty look like?
It is that, I feel, that is so often forgotten and overlooked. The prime combat soldier is about twenty years old. The ones walking the battlefield, driving the tanks, engaging the enemy in the field, just young men. They don't feel like young men, just men. Men without any idea of what it is to be older. In my day many were drafted, it wasn't their idea. Still those young men went and did their duty. Their reasons for doing so as varied as the men themselves. As for myself, I joined not for glory, not for any compelling patriotism, but rather to better myself. It was an avenue. I was aware of the dangers, but you have to remember I was a young man, invulnerable! Nothing would happen to me. As it turned out, I was right. Twenty years and the ship didn't sink, I never got torpedoed. Divine providence? Yes, I think it was.
Most of us know the history of Memorial Day. (Decoration day) I'm happy to see that, and social media has played an important role in that awareness. Not everything is bad about social media. People just love to state facts when the feeling is others do not know the facts. It is what makes conversation after all. Simply agreeing with whatever another person says isn't a discussion or a conversation, it's simply listening and agreeing. Like talking to your parents the reason is, because I said so. During the Civil War the average age of a soldier was twenty six. In Vietnam the average age of the soldier was twenty three. Today there are over six hundred thousand members of the armed forces under the age of twenty five. Young people? Yes, they certainly are.
So today I find my thoughts drifting to all those young people that lost their lives in the battle. How many more lives never came to be as a result of that? I have been fortunate to have children, grandchildren and see generations moving ever forward. According to available statistics more than 1.1 million American lives have been lost in combat. That is in all wars combined. It's a staggering statistic when you realize than nearly half of all those casualties occurred during the civil war! Yes, nearly a half million lives lost in that war! A good thing I guess that the average age was twenty six, in that way there was another generation to follow!
Is it any wonder a special day was set aside to remember all those lost? No matter the true history of the how and why of decoration day, there are various telling's and recounting these days, inspired by political leanings and social justice warriors, the staggering loss of life was the true impetus. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of survivors crippled physically and/or mentally. It's a testament to the persistence of man to survive, to move ever forward. And it is our young people that are that engine. Something to remember on this day especially.
The veterans of the civil war lie still in graveyards, cemeteries and backyards across this great nation. They were the first to fall. It was because they fell that we stand united today. They preserved the union. A domestic dispute settled at the cost of nearly half a million lives. As we moved into the twentieth century memories began to fade. Other wars and conflicts filled our consciousness. But one hundred and six after the civil war ended a National holiday was declared to remember all the lives lost, in all the wars, battles, and conflicts. Memorial Day was chosen as the name, In Memoriam. The date of May 30 was selected because no major battle occurred on that date during the civil war. No battle was to be commemorated, only the lives lost, regardless of political affiliation.
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