What Are You Doing for Memorial Day (U.S.)?

[sheeplady]

My husband, myself, and our daughter went on a short trip to Boston for Saturday and Sunday, as it is one of the last weekends I can travel more than 50 miles from the hospital. Monday was spent resting and taking a short hike in a nearby nature preserve.

I don't care for any family graves as I am now too far away. I care for the graves of the people who lived in the home we are restoring. It is still too early to plant as we just had a killing frost on Friday, but it looks like two of the four perennials I planted last year survived. I also do weeding around the surrounding graves that are no longer cared for by others in the same cemetery, but I don't plant flowers.

Although we have a lot of soldiers in our families (particularly WWII veterans), all survived their service, including my 7 great uncles on my maternal grandmother's side of the family who all served during wartime. Almost all of my husband and I's family members were wounded and several were permanently disabled after service, but fortunately no deaths. So we don't have that family connection to Memorial Day proper of recognizing family members who died during service.

 

[alanfgag]

A quiet late afternoon front porch sit was the highlight for me.

 

[Redshoes51]

This is a bit late, but each year, I like to buy a bunch of U. S. Flags... go to the cemetery... and place these flags on graves of veterans. I know that Memorial Day is for the soldiers who lost their lives in service, but some of the graves I mark survived their conflicts, and returned home.

There are two grave sites that are special to me... one is that of a young aviator... and it simply states that he died in the Pacific Theater... it has an image of an aircraft so I can only assume he was a pilot, and more than likely is not buried there. It must serve as a memorial.

Another is that of a young soldier, whose headstone states that he was 'killed at the Remagen Bridgehead. '

Two others are of men I knew... one was on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, and eventually wound up at the Battle of the Bulge. The Hell he saw... I know because he told me about it. The other, an old timer who was in Europe during WWI. He told me a story once... of being a gunner and firing a Browning water-cooled machine gun across No Man's Land at night so that the Germans wouldn't come across and kill them. He said that the water pump malfunctioned... and the barrel eventually started to grow red... then blue... and then white...

To think of some of the things I have bitched about in my Life.

~shoes~

 

[AmateisGal]

This is a bit late, but each year, I like to buy a bunch of U. S. Flags... go to the cemetery... and place these flags on graves of veterans. I know that Memorial Day is for the soldiers who lost their lives in service, but some of the graves I mark survived their conflicts, and returned home.

There are two grave sites that are special to me... one is that of a young aviator... and it simply states that he died in the Pacific Theater... it has an image of an aircraft so I can only assume he was a pilot, and more than likely is not buried there. It must serve as a memorial.

Another is that of a young soldier, whose headstone states that he was 'killed at the Remagen Bridgehead.

Two others are of men I knew... one was on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, and eventually wound up at the Battle of the Bulge. The Hell he saw... I know because he told me about it. The other, an old timer who was in Europe during WWI. He told me a story once... of being a gunner and firing a Browning water-cooled machine gun across No Man's Land at night so that the Germans wouldn't come across and kill them. He said that the water pump malfunctioned... and the barrel eventually started to grow red... then blue... and then white...

To think of some of the things I have bitched about in my Life.

~shoes~

I love that you did this. What a great tribute.

 

[Redshoes51]

I love that you did this. What a great tribute.

Thank you!

~shoes~

 

[sheeplady]

This is a bit late, but each year, I like to buy a bunch of U. S. Flags... go to the cemetery... and place these flags on graves of veterans. I know that Memorial Day is for the soldiers who lost their lives in service, but some of the graves I mark survived their conflicts, and returned home.~shoes~

I like this idea a lot. The cemetery I frequent didn't have flags the last time I checked (which was the weekend before Memorial Day). I'd assume it is too small to have an organization go out and mark the graves.

Can I ask how you know which of the people were veterans? I've seen very few stones marked in this cemetery with anything but name and dates, they don't even appear to have the little bronze marker plaques that signify service I've seen in other cemeteries. I don't think anyone in the cemetery has a VA provided headstone, but I understand that they are pretty recent, and this cemetery is pretty inactive.

 

[2jakes]

I remember one time a group of Boys Scouts putting small US flags on the graves at Fort Sam Cemetery.
I thought that was a nice gesture from the youngsters & preserve the memory of our fallen soldiers.

 

[pawineguy]

So wonderful that your son is interested in learning about history. And what a great opportunity to bond together over old war movies.

We all sat through The Longest Day (my three boys and I), and their eyes were GLUED to the screen. I paused a few times to explain things when they had questions, but they are slowly building up an appreciation for our military. Their grandfather (my dad) was a Missile Crisis Era Marine, was in Cuba during the Crisis, and they enjoy asking him questions about his service.

 

[pawineguy]

The Doylestown parade, the country's oldest, is a very nice small town event. All 3 high schools and 5 middle schools have bands marching, and all of the Veterans and active duty service members are at the front of the parade before all of the silly stuff. Well attended and runs right through our very vibrant downtown area.

 

[AmateisGal]

We all sat through The Longest Day (my three boys and I), and their eyes were GLUED to the screen. I paused a few times to explain things when they had questions, but they are slowly building up an appreciation for our military. Their grandfather (my dad) was a Missile Crisis Era Marine, was in Cuba during the Crisis, and they enjoy asking him questions about his service.

Wonderful!

 

[Redshoes51]

I like this idea a lot. The cemetery I frequent didn't have flags the last time I checked (which was the weekend before Memorial Day). I'd assume it is too small to have an organization go out and mark the graves.

Can I ask how you know which of the people were veterans? I've seen very few stones marked in this cemetery with anything but name and dates, they don't even appear to have the little bronze marker plaques that signify service I've seen in other cemeteries. I don't think anyone in the cemetery has a VA provided headstone, but I understand that they are pretty recent, and this cemetery is pretty inactive.

Good evening... I was fortunate, I guess, in that many of the headstones of soldiers in this cemetery were marked by either the bronze plaques that you mentioned, or by maybe older VA provided headstones. I will take photos of the two that I have identified... I do believe that their stones must have been family-provided. I found them by walking/driving the cemetery...

Some of the individuals, I simply knew...

~shoes~