Memorial Day

Mike Leco — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:13:00 GMT

Next Monday, May 26, is Memorial Day in the USA. This federal holiday is annually held on the last Monday in May. It was originally instituted to commemorate all the US soldiers that died in battle. Now, it has many meanings for the citizens of the USA. It is still a day of rememberance for our fallen soldiers. It is also a day when many people visit the cemetaries to plant flowers on the graves of their deceased friends and relatives. For most people, it is the official beginning of the Summer vacation season. Schools all over the USA begin their annual Summer vacation breaks soon after Memorial Day. In the northern states, swimming pools, amusement parks and other vacation attractions open on this day. For many people this is an occasion for the first picnic or outdoor party of the season.

Cities and towns across the USA hold commemoration ceremonies and parades on Memorial Day weekend. One of the most poignant ceremonies on this weekend is held in Washington DC at the Vietnam Memorial.

The Vietnam War was a deeply devisive event in modern US history that occured between 1959 and 1975. To this day, many people believe that it was an unnecessary conflict that sacrificed over 50,000 US soldiers for an ambiguous and useless cause. To this day, many other people believe that the Vietnam war was an essential battle for freedom and democracy angainst communism.

The Vietnam Memorial was completed in 1982 to commemorate those who fell in battle during this long period of combat. It is a monument of simplistic design located near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. It is composed of two 75 meter long walls of black granite forming a "V" sunken below ground level. Each wall tapers from 20 cm to 3 meters at their junction. Each wall has 72 highly polished black granite panels engraved with the names of the 58,256 soldiers who died in Vietnam. The names are arranged chronologically by the date they fell.

The monument itself was born in controversy. Many Vietnam War veterans thought this simplistic design was too insignificantt, that it demeaned the memory of their fallen comrades. They called it "the wall of shame" and "the black ditch". They demanded a more traditional war memorial monument. The planners compromised by adding a bronze statue depicting three Vietnam combat soldiers near the wall. A few years later, a second bronze statue depicting three women veterans was added in the vicinity.

From the moment it was completed, this monument proved to be the most emotionally inspiring war memorial in the USA. At first, some of the Vietnam veterans were afraid to approach it. They stood in the trees one hundred meters away and stared at the monument for hours. Other veterans came to the wall and searched out the names of their fallen comrades. When they found the name, they touched it and wept openly. Friends and family members came from across the USA, sought out the names of their loved ones and made tracings of the inscription. They began to leave mementos at the base of the wall.

The mourners left flowers, cards, letters, photos, death notices and press clippings. They left flags, hats, items of clothing, military medals and patches, toys, dolls, stuffed animals and every imaginable personal item. They even left packs of cigarettes, bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey, packs of playing cards, cans of food, and all sorts of items that had special significance to their memory of the lost comrade. A group of veterans from Wisconsin left a Harley Davidson motorcycle decorated with the names of all their MIA (missimg in action) comrades. At first, the National Park Service kept the items in a storage shed. Now, they routinely place items in an historical archive and display some of them in a hastily constructed museum near the monument. The NPS plans to construct an underground museum to house and display this growing archive near the Vietnam memorial.

In May 1987, several motorcycle riding Vietnam War veterans suggested a way to commemorate their fallen comrades and to raise people's awareness of the prisoners or war and missing in action (POW-MIA) that remain unaccounted for. They organized a motorcycle rally for the memorial day weekend and named it "Rolling Thunder". Every memorial day since then, Washington DC has become the destination for tens of thousands of motocycle riders on the memorial day weekend.

This weekend, motorcycles will be on the highways from all across the USA. They will come by ones and twos, by groups of a dozen or more and in packs of hundreds. All of them will be heading to Washington DC. As many as 50,000 motorcycles will converge there for the weekend. On Friday evening, they will hold a candlelight vigil at the Vietnam Memorial. On Saturday, they will attend concerts, and outdoor barbeques. On Sunday morning, the motorcycles will assemble at the Pentagon; then precisely at noon, tens of thousands of motorcyles will slowly ride to the Vietnam Memorial. Many of them will be flying large US flags and black POW-MIA flags. Washington DC will truly hear the sound of Rolling Thunder.

There will be speeches and ceremonies commemorating the fallen and missing Vietnam War dead. That is the typical fare of memorial day ceremonies. You can find that in every city.

If you want to see the real poinancy of war and remembrance, just go to the Vietnam Memorial anytime during the Memorial Day weekend. You will see the grizzled veterans with their gray hair and their long gray beards, dressed in combinations of Vietnam era uniforms adorned with medals, combat fatigues covered with military patches and black leather motorcycle attire decorated with Vietnam War scenes. They still go to the wall to touch the names of their comrades fallen over forty years ago. They still weep openly.

Life in the USA : Washington DC

Memorial Day