Memorial Day 2013

Like many of you, at least part of this weekend was devoted to the scorching of foodstuffs on an outdoor grill, as is our national custom.

Flags were put out in daylight and taken in, as is also the custom, before evening darkness fell.

CAA did not, this year, participate in any public displays (beside the flags) or observances marking the occasion of Memorial Day.  CAA's observances of Memorial Day were mostly private.  A few words on the subject were exchanged between CAA and Madam-at-Arms, who teases me on my pedantic insistence about what Memorial Day signifies.

(I know some of my Foreign Service colleagues abroad were representing our country in public observances of Memorial Day at some surprisingly far-flung locales.)

Memorial Day has an interesting and distinguished history.  It honors not (at least not any more) the veterans of a particular conflict.  In fact, it is intended not to honor veterans at all, but to allow civilians (and surviving veterans) to honor those who died in our country's wars.

Living veterans have our own day, in November, which is well and just in its way.

So today, privately, I took some time to remember the fallen, those I knew personally and those whom I never had the chance to meet.  I also reflected upon those veterans who survived their wars, returning home, but who have since gone to their final, well-deserved, rest.

Most of the veterans in my generation ("Generation X" as many call it) are still in the prime of their lives, many still serving in uniform.  We served, side-by-side (actually, most of the time we were their leaders, supervisors, or commanders), with the "Millenials" or "Generation Y."

So unlike The Greatest Generation which won World War II, those of us who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will be around for many decades to come, most of us, although eventually we too will no longer be around to celebrate Veterans Day but will, hopefully, still be remembered and honored on Memorial Day.

I hope all (both?) of my readers had good weather over the long weekend, enjoyed a good old-fashioned cookout or two, and in the course of the day itself, spared a thought or prayer for our nation's fallen service members.