Thursday night I emailed our friend George Harris, remembering his wonderful essay last year, and asked him if he would honor us with another essay for this Memorial Day, 2011. He said yes. Thank you, George.
Guest Post: George S. Harris
Memorial Day, 2011
As we approach another Memorial Day, it has dawned on me that time has flown by so swiftly. It seems only yesterday that I was a young barely 18 year old from a small town in Oklahoma and I was sitting in a room in the Navy Recruiting Station in Kansas City, Mo. We were being addressed by a Navy officer whose rank I no longer remember, but the one thing that has stayed with me all these years was this comment, “They say we are involved in a police action in Korea but I have to tell you that one hell of a lot of cops are being killed.”
I don’t know why that has stayed with me but it has. Come August 30 of this year it will be 60 years since I raised my right hand and swore to, “…defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.” And in those six decades, you and I have seen many, “…cops being killed.”
Memorial Day came into being shortly after the Civil War in order to honor those who gave the last full measure during this war of brother against brother and father against son. Although we now think of it more as a weekend of picnics, hamburgers, cold beer and mega-sales, we should never forget that its purpose was to honor those who gave everything to insure that those who are celebrating today have the freedom to do so.
In a few weeks we will celebrate the sesquicentennial of the first Battle of Manassas or the Battle of Bull Run. In the intervening 150 years, 1,248,089 young Americans have died in the service of their country. That’s almost one life per hour for all these years. Some who read these meager words have witnessed this terrible loss of life and others can only imagine what it must be like to see life’s light fade from the eyes of a friend. It is difficult to think that in a single minute the life of the person you have shared so much with in combat is gone in a flash—the crack of a rifle, the explosion of a mortar or artillery shell or the terrifying blast of an improvised explosive device and another sacrifice is laid on the altar of the God of War.
Fifty years ago, Pete Seeger wrote a song entitled, “Where Have all The Flowers Gone.” One of the verses of this song seems fitting for this day of remembrance:
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
To all those who have gone before, let us remember how much they gave and how much we have received.
Captain Harris served in the Korean War and Vietnam.
See his other comments about Memorial Day on Moonhowlings.
George, thanks for your thoughtful essay about the sacrifices so many have made for our country. I usually think of two guys in particular when it’s Memorial Day. They died in Vietnam. One was a guitar player in a garage band that was popular with my high school friends and the other was the only child of a neighbor couple. He left our small town for Harvard or Princeton and after graduating volunteered for Vietnam before there was a big build-up.
George,
Your words remind us well what MEMORial day is all about, to honor the MEMORy of those who have sacraficed so much for our country.
Great piece George. Those who sacrificed for our country could get no better tribute.