The finest tribute we can pay Unto our hero dead to-day, Is not a rose wreath, white and red, In memory of the blood they shed; It is to stand beside each mound, Each couch of consecrated ground, And pledge ourselves as warriors true Unto the work they died to do. Into God's valleys where they lie At rest, beneath the open sky, Triumphant now o'er every foe, As living tributes let us go. No wreath of rose or immortelles Or spoken word or tolling bells Will do to-day, unless we give Our pledge that liberty shall live. Our hearts must be the roses red We place above our hero dead; To-day beside their graves we must Renew allegiance to their trust; Must bare our heads and humbly say We hold the Flag as dear as they, And stand, as once they stood, to die To keep the Stars and Stripes on high. The finest tribute we can pay Unto our hero dead to-day Is not of speech or roses red, But living, throbbing hearts instead, That shall renew the pledge they sealed With death upon the battlefield: That freedom's flag shall bear no stain And free men wear no tyrant's chain.
There are more than 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. One of them belongs to Michael Najarian — but the Michael Najarian who served in Vietnam and now leans in to touch the engraving is still very much alive. What would you do if you found your own name on a list of the dead? “I just sort of sank on the ground,” Najarian says, shaking his head. “I couldn’t believe it.” This Najarian was an Air Force sergeant during the Vietnam War. The Najarian on the wall was in the Navy. They were born one year and one day apart. “Only a middle initial separates us. He’s Michael A. I’m Michael G. Najarian.” “I read something the other day,” the older Najarian says, pausing to dip a brush into his bucket. “‘A veteran is a person who wrote a blank check to this country.” Our nation withdrew everything Michael A. Najarian had. “I use it as my Wailing Wall,” Bill Gray says quietly. The former Army lieutenant lost five men in his platoon. “I suffer from survivor’s guilt. Cleaning this wall is an opportunity to wash that away.” Gray stretches to reach the names of the dead in his platoon. “You realize there are so many families who have been affected by this.” He gazes at the army of names. “I try to see the thousands of people that they left behind, the wives, the parents, the kids, the unborn.” It is for them, too, that the old soldiers tend this peaceful place. It is not a job; it is an honor. Every day that they go down to that wall and pick up a brush is Memorial Day. After all, what does a soldier who survived war fear most? That people will forget.
The official function of Memorial Day is to honor the men and women of the United States who have died while serving our nation's military service. It is an American holiday, with obscure origins even though it is less than 150 years old, and claimed by many as their own patriotic invention. Officially proclaimed in 1868, Memorial Day became widespread by 1902, and was named a federal holiday in 1971. Originally known as Decoration Day, the holiday began as the organized honoring of the fallen from the Civil War by decorating their graves with flowers, candles and prayer. After World War I, the separate Union and Confederate Decoration Days combined as Memorial Day and recognized those who have died in military service during any war. During the years, traditional observances of Memorial Day diminished. Many Americans forgot the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day, and at many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are untended. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. Some people think the day is for honoring all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country. Memorial Day used to be a solemn day of mourning. With the memory of the lost still fresh, it was a sacred day of remembrance to honor those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Businesses closed for the day, and towns held parades honoring the fallen, often ending at a local cemeteries. People took the day to clean and decorate graves of those who fell in service to their country with flowers and flags the graves. As the decades passed those observances faded.
Fundraising is underway to send hundreds of World War Two veterans from central Iowa on a one-day chartered flight to Washington, D.C. to visit the World War Two Memorial honoring their bravery. There'll be no cost to the veterans. The trip includes visits to the World War Two Memorial, the Iwo Jima Monument and the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. "We're estimating it'll take about $450,000 to fly approximately 700 central Iowa veterans and their guardians and caretakers to Washington D.C. this summer. These men and women have paid such a price for our freedom and they still have that spirit in them." Several Iowa communities have already sent World War Two veterans to visit the memorial, with Honor Flights flying from Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Mason City and the Quad Cities.
Thomas O’Toole played a critical role during World War 2. He didn’t drive a tank or oversee a battleship gun. He wasn’t aboard a bomber and he didn’t march with a battlefront infantry. He was assigned to the Navy’s communication office – the cryptology division – where he translated top-secret codes to and from the front lines. “It was fairly primitive but it worked – it was an impressive system,” said the Harwich Port resident, who served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946. O’Toole, now 86 and living in a modest Harwich Port home just up from Wychmere Harbor, was recently invited to participate in a unique program called American Warrior. Formed in 2005, the nonprofit group escorts veterans at no cost from the Northeast down to Washington, D.C. to see the National World War Two Memorial. Unveiled in 2004, the memorial honors the 400,000 soldiers who perished and 16 million who served.
Let’s roll! These are the last words Todd Beamer spoke as he and others tried to retake United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. Those words will be forever tied to that dark day in American history. With their fate unknown, passengers and crew members on United Airlines Flight 93, which was headed to San Francisco from Newark, decided to fight back. They could have just sat there and let plans, by the planes terrorist / hijackers, unfold and play out. But they decided to act instead. They all perished, moments later, as the plane crashed into a field outside Shanksville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania just a little after 10:00 that morning. Their actions, sacrifice and bravery diverted what could have been an even larger national tragedy if the plane was allowed to continue on its route to Washington, D.C. The intended target was supposedly the White House or U.S. Capital Building.
"On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, asked that America remember those lost in the Civil War by 'gather[ing] around their sacred remains' to 'garland the passionless mounds ... with choicest flowers' and 'raise above them the dear old flag they saved.' Since then, we have set aside one day each year to honor all those who have died in service to our country. Across the United States, military support groups, veterans associations, and patriots mount public tribute to those who served and sacrificed. By honoring our men and women in uniform with events like this, groups such as the American Veterans Center keep alive the memory of those who paid the ultimate price. At 3 p.m., your local time, on Monday, May 25, 2009, I would encourage you to join millions of your fellow Americans in a moment of silence to remember our fallen heroes. It is important to think of the fallen on this day, but we should also keep in mind all of our servicemen and women throughout the year. They and their families continue to sacrifice for our country and deserve our recognition and support. We should heed the advice of General Logan, who wrote: 'Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.'"