Memorial Day, Part II

Text (for the most part) from my message at the Meyersdale Memorial Day Service.  Much, but not all, of this, is from a previous blog post.  The part about Willowdale Cemetery is newly added, as the visit occurred on May 24, 2013.  Photos of the monument of which I spoke are posted to my facebook account (as well as other photos from the cemetery).

I never met my great-grandfather Salter. He was from Liverpool, and served in the Royal Army, we know in India and perhaps in Afghanistan as well. He is buried in Old Tennent Cemetery, in New Jersey. And every year, the Boy Scouts put a flag (of the US, not the UK) on his grave on Memorial Day weekend. There are flags at the grave of his son, who served in the US Army in France during WWI, at that of his granddaughter's husband , my dad, who served the US Navy in the Pacific in WWII, and at that of a great-great grandfather, who served in the US Civil War, along with countless other graves of those who served, in numerous conflicts as well as during peacetime, at that and countless other cemeteries around this country and around the world. Some, like my ancestors, who came home, lived their lives, raised families, and grew old. Some, like my cousin Johnny, who came home, tortured by their injuries or memories, unable to love themselves  or forgive themselves or others until they were taken home by God. Some, like the young man whose eternal resting place lays in Old Tennent Cemetery, who did not come home alive; his headstone tells a simple story: his name, dates of birth and death, and three words: "Died in France." I never knew him or his family members, yet I visit his grave every time I go home.

This past Friday I visited Willowdale Cemetery in Goldsboro, NC, to pay respects at the grave of my sister’s brother-in-law.  Now Goldsboro was occupied by the Army of the North, led by General William Tecumseh Sherman.  And so, while at Willowdale, we got out at the site of a memorial to the Confederate dead.  800 soldiers, 200 of them known only to God, are laid to rest in a mass grave. 

Surrounding the burial mound are walls engraved with the names and units of the 600 who are known.

And on one side of the monument, you will read: 

On fame’s eternal camping ground

Their silent tents are spread

 And Glory guards with solemn round

The bivouac of the dead

Memorial Day weekend is not the unofficial start of summer, or an extra day off from work, or a day of beach or park or picnic, or a day to snag some really good bargains at the mall. Let us remember that Memorial Day - Remembrance Day - is a day to remember those who served our nation. I'm not saying don't have fun. But as you go about the rest of your weekend, remember those who made it possible for us to celebrate our freedom. Remember those who came before. Remember those who are mourning those that they lost.  Let us remember that those who lost all to give us our freedoms, are now guarded by the angels, are now resting in the peace that many of them were unable to achieve here on earth.  Let us honor them with our lives.