Memorial Weekend | The Veterans Memorial @ Perryville, Mo
Memorial Day. What is it?
Some reading this might ask themselves, "What does she mean, what is Memorial Day? Everyone knows what Memorial Day is all about. Is she stupid?"
I know that does seem like a ridiculous question but it might shock folks to know how many people really have no idea what Memorial Day is all about. Commonly folks confuse Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and even Labor Day, a day that has nothing to do with the military.
Me? I grew up knowing about it in great detail and made many a visit to my home town cemetery on "decoration day" with my Nany to decorate the graves of our deceased family members with sprays of flowers that would put any professional florist to shame. She spent weeks preparing all the arrangements and I remember once my Papa having a small fit that he had to make three trips to the cemetery to deliver them all.
Nany decorated all the graves of our dead but made a special pause at each of those occupied by our fallen heroes. Papa was particular about those stops and suffered an odd silence at each of the graves where his fallen pals were laid to rest. I only noticed because my Papa was rarely silent. He seems to go somewhere else in his deep thought. I didn't understand until many decades later.
I wish I had images of those graves and all the beautiful work Nany did with those flowers to honor so many.
But back to the meaning of Memorial Day or more particularly how to distinguish it from Veterans Day.
Memorial day is a day we do just that; we memorialize our fallen soldiers. We remember and honor those who gave the ultimate price for our country; their lives.
Veterans day is when we honor all of our military, both living and dead.
Just months after 911 I had the opportunity to travel to DC. It was there I first visited the Vietnam Wall and I still cannot describe the multitude of feelings I had reading those names etched in the granite. Names that represented so many I had never know and yet felt humbled and full of gratitude for every single one. The whole space was like stepping into a different dimension for me. I couldn't imagine what my military friends and family, both active and retired, must feel like standing before this mammoth reminder of how many people have died for our freedoms, and this was just one war. I felt deep, deep sorrow as I thought of my living friends who'd fought in this war and lived to grieve every name on that wall.
Fast forward to Memorial Day this year. Friends called and coaxed me out of the house and we ended up just taking a drive. We did a big circle through the countryside and one of our stops was at the Missouri National Veterans Memorial In Perryville, Mo.
This is the description on its inception taken from the website of the memorial.
"Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial is a newly formed, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Perryville, Mo., that is dedicated to honoring our nation’s veterans. The memorial began as the vision of several local veterans and citizens who wanted to honor and respect their fellow brothers-and sisters-in-arms, including those currently serving."
I encourage you to visit their website and read about their full mission. I also encourage you to visit the memorial yourself and experience the whole thing on a more personal level. The nostalgia alone is gripping.
The visitors center was closed during my visit but I'm happy to share a little of my experience with you.
This is one of the many plaques you will see approaching the wall memorial.
The approach.
The names seem endless and small memorials honoring the fallen are scattered about.
Some of the offerings were surely very personal and hard to part with.
I thought the tiny soldier below all those names spoke volumes.
How many prayers (and tears) had that rosary held in the deepest of confidence?
What soldier, in particular, if just one, did this tiny offering represent?
The coins were everywhere and lead to a discussion about what they represented.
Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you have visited. A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp together. A dime means you served with him or her in some capacity. And leaving a quarter means you are telling the family that you were with the soldier when he or she was killed.
My heart goes out to whoever left that quarter.
Looking at this flag left out of honor and respect made me sad to know that there is a whole generation out that may never understand either of those words in their full capacity. At least not in the context of Memorial Day and the meaning behind it.
Images of the fallen, realizing that these may be the last images of them alive, really drives the meaning of the day, home.
There are a lot of names........
Many memorials....
And more than a few coins...
