Memorial Day Melancholy – An Annual Re-post
Two or three times a year some of us geezer types get a bit tangled up in old times. Late April and much of May include several dates that trigger memories here.
Late April because my pop was declared KIA in Korea on April 25, 1951.
Early May because years ago I was discharged on May 9, 1969 from the Navy after spending over a year around Vietnam. Flew back into SFO and got spit at and called a baby killer on arrival.
And then there is Memorial Day. The advertisements for sales and off topic events make the day difficult to avoid, even if I wanted to. So I repeat this post with minor updates.
Circa 1950 pix of me ‘n dad
I was an Army brat the first few years of my life. I have vague memories (or memories of memories?) of several Army posts; in Georgia, in Arizona, and another place or two. Then my dad was deployed to some place called Korea sometime in 1950.
Three additional memories are a bit more vivid – the day we were notified he was Missing in Action and, sometime later, that his remains had been recovered, and finally, his funeral. I wasn’t allowed to go – I was deemed too young.
But, I have a Purple Heart.
He is buried in our home town, and there’s a small memorial in the city park there with his name inscribed. I visit both as often as I can. Even though I was only five or six at the time and will be 71 in about a month I still miss him. I have pictures and memories, and…
I have a Purple Heart.
For many others, like myself, Memorial Day has a face.
We’re past the 50 year anniversary of Vietnam and there is a wall FULL of my brothers and sisters who earned a Purple Heart
With that – Please don’t wish me a happy Memorial Day because…
I have HIS Purple Heart!
Category: Geezer Alert!
My family has been very lucky. Every son it has sent to war since 1898 has come home safely. None of them ever let us forget that far too many families aren’t so lucky.
Prayers and condolences to the Ponsdorfs and all other Gold Star Families out there.
Some of us remember what Memorial Day is intended to memorialize.
For Gold Star families, it is indeed a day of deep sorrow.
For those of use whose loved ones came back to us, it is a day for gratefulness for that mercy, and remembering their/our brothers in arms who did not.
For the rest – it may be a day of celebration of the beginning of summer, but I know that for many who served it remains that their sacrifices were in part to enable Americans to live free and happy. So I do not begrudge the celebrants – even those who live oblivious to the sacrifice made for them.
Thank you for this, ZP.
Sir, you said it all. I hope you don’t mind if I copy this.
And that is why I agree with the sentiment about not wishing me a “Happy” Memorial Day. I remember a newspaper cartoon with a kid who is watching his father grilling some burgers on Memorial Day and he asks “How much did this cost?” The next panel shows a rendering of a Veterans cemetery as the answer.
“Memorial Day has a face”
Yes
Always a good read, and a wonderful reminder that this is a solemn day, not a holiday in the more typical sense.
This year will be my first to plant a flag at the local Veterans Cemetery. Noon, Sunday.
There are details and then there are details. The Old Guard also knows the difference. https://www.facebook.com/usarmyoldguard/videos/1538222649535172/
Thanks, ZP.
I also do not ‘celebrate’ Memorial Day.
On Memorial Day, I reflect and remember.
That photo sent me down memory lane. It’s pure Americana, a snapshot of a boy and his Dad in the yard. It’s just a moment in time but, damn, the many memories it conjures.
As for Memorial Day, all that is asked of non Veterans is that they remember the sacrifice paid by so many. That’s all. Have a good time, America: it’s what those who didn’t come home would want. Just remember, then go buy a mattress.
Prayers for you and your family, ZP.
Very well put. Thank you for your service and I will remember your father this Memorial Day.
[img]http://www.westernjournalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Memorial-Day.gif[/img]
I’ll be thinking of you, your Dad and that Purple Heart on this Memorial Day.
For the rest of the year, I wish you and your family the very best!
Very well said, Cousin. I have that picture of your dad and you, as well – one of my favorites that Mom had.
Much love and good thoughts to you today and all days.
My tribe and I are launching out of here Saturday a.m. enroute to my nieces High School Graduation in western Maryland. We’re spending Sunday and Monday night in Arlington VA and on Memorial Day Monday we’ll be going to Arlington National Cemetery. My kids have seen Andersonville with flags on all the Graves as well as the National Cemetery where my folks are buried festooned with flags.
But I think the sight of 600 plus Acres of Arlington with a couple hundred thousand flags will be etched indelibly in thier memory that Freedom comes with a price, that better men and women than I have paid so we can enjoy it.
Excellent post and I remember it from years past. I have a few seminal days from military service: 22DEC69 is probably the most meaningful and which causes me the most discomfort for several weeks around that period of time. Early July is another such time.
I’ve mentioned previously I’m not crazy about people thanking me for my service. For some reason, unless coming from another veteran, it rings hollow. I can’t begin to explain it to myself so doing so for others is impossible. I am grateful beyond words for the opportunity to have served for 23 years. If able to physically do so, I would return to AD in my old NEC, even given the great changes in the Navy since my retirement in 91. Given physical limitations and weight, though, about all I would be able to do would be to cast a shadow for shade for the real troops. LOL
Someone mentioned how they were spit at upon return from Vietnam. I returned from Okinawa (3rd Med, Hansen) early 71 and received the same treatment. My uniform identified me as ‘Marine’ so that was good enough for them
So, to all my fellow veteran friends, thank you for your service. This thanks is not offered in a shallow manner. Blessings …
I visited Arlington several times when stationed at Bethesda, 72-77. It is very imposing and solemn. Didn’t realize the vastness of the facility until I visited it.
My Great Grandmother was a gold star mother. Her son, David S. Miles died on the USS Dorchester in 1943.
ZP, I’m sorry for you. I don’t really know the pain of losing a parent, only my husband, Martin. Somehow me saying I have his medals even though he is “here” with me cannot fill the void you, I, and others have as we move on through the days.
Do me a favor, say his name and he will be with my other friends, relatives who have gone before. Dave, Karen, Mike, Bruce, Ethel, and “Zero P’s Pop”.
I too am very lucky. I survived Iraq and my oldest son survived Aphganistan. I guess that makes the wife/mom the real lucky one. Yeah, Memorial Day has a face. My friends that were killed and severely wounded are the faces I remember, and always will. I have gone to my “spot” in the yard and watered the dogwood trees many times not just because of what the day means to me, but what it means to the rest of the population that has not clue. So, yes the day has many faces and unless you wish to see rage on mine, be respectful to OUR fallen.
Oh, yeah. That’s a vintage 50’s photo with your dad’s rolled up jeans.
1950 is when my dad got sent to Korea with the 5th Regimental Combat Team. Saw some ugly crap, but he came home alive, and in one piece.
I’m sorry for your dad, Zee.
Thanks, for what your Dad and others did for Mrs Dustoff’s native land ’54.The Republic of Korea is not without it’s faults, not perfect, but a damn site better than the alternative.
They should show side byside picts with pyongpyang, who can’t afford to turn their lights on..and NO VEHICLE TRAFFIC..ah communism!
The Russian and I travel and take back roads if time is not an issue. About 15-20 years ago we found a dirt/gravel road, off a rarely traveled old country road, miles from any town of 5,000. We went down and found a single room church and cemetery with 70 – 100 headstones. One stone noted the burial site of an Army 1st LT, a female with, to me, an African American name, 25 or so years old, who died early in the GWOT. (No embellishment here … facts, opinions and circumstances are important, at least to me.) So here she is, probably 25 miles from even a fast food restaurant, in the cemetery of a 100+ y/o church with a congregation of probably fewer than 50, possibly 25. And here she will be for eternity and, at some time, almost entirely forgotten by all except a distant relative who will discover her on Ancestry.com. Who will think of her 100 years from now? Did she leave any children? Who will visit her grave and leave flowers? The cemetery had not been properly maintained in many years, and there was only one burial more recent. I doubt the old country road off which this road was located had more than 100 vehicles a day, except days when church was held.
Yet, here she is, having given the ultimate, very nearly hidden from the world, where she will occupy a small spot of earth until the end of time.
I’m thinking she deserves better than this. But, no, she is among those to whom she was important, among whom she was born, reared and departed. And now here she is once more, for eternity among those to whom her life had meaning.
Here she is …
I had to wait until I could stop crying long enough to post here! I never got to serve in combat, I stayed stateside and just did my crypto thing. I have all the respect and gratitude for those that did serve. The reason I cry every year at this time is for all the lies put forth by my pos brother! I’m sure he will host a grand barbeque for all of his phony friends and he will regale them all day with his phony war stories that he never did, this is why I cry! I only pray to God that someday he will pay for his lies. I hope he chokes on his phony Purple Heart!
Thank you. That was beautiful. And thank you for the sacrifice your family made for all of us.
My cousin died in Korea, another died after coming back from Vietnam……yes, we remember!
One of the many reasons I so dislike posers.
Ponsdorf, thinking of you old friend. And yes, memories this time of year always bring many thoughts of sacrifices made for our country. Have a blessed Memorial Day.
Panel 40 E and the names of Richard Charles Ramsey who was my first friend made in Vietnam, and John Jerome Kopfer who worked on our team. Both KIA mid February 1968 due to 122mm rocket fire, rockets made by Russia. This Memorial Day the PSU ROTC at Pittsburg State University is part of a reading of every name that is on the PSU Veterans Memorial half scale black granite Vietnam Wall. I am so humble and so proud to be one of the readers, honoring people I care about as well as many others. The readings will start Memorial Day and go on from six a.m. to six p.m. until Friday midday. If you are near southeast Kansas please stop by.
My family raised 9 kids, 7 boys and 2 girls. Of the 7 boys 5 of us served, my oldest brother in Korea and me in Vietnam and our dad was in WWII. Both of my sisters married veterans. Our family earned the right to be Americans after coming from England and Holland.