THEE TRUE MEANING OF MEMORIAL DAY

Memorial Day Is Not About Family Reunions, A Day At The Beach, Or Spending Time At An Amusement Park

Nowadays, if it were not for the boob tube, most Americans wouldn't know what Memorial Day is about

By Howie Katz

 

The iconic photo of US Marines on Iwo Jima raising the American flag at the top of Mount Suribachi. In thirty-six days of fighting on the island, nearly 7,000 US Marines were killed.

 

Memorial Day should be a solemn day during which we remember and honor all those who lost their lives fighting for our country, from the Revolutionary War through the war in Afghanistan.  

Unfortunately, nowadays most Americans wouldn't know what Memorial Day was about if it weren't for the boob tube. Instead of honoring the fallen heroes, Americans use this day off from work for family reunions, a day at the beach, or to have a good time at Amusement parks like Disney World. They could care less about those who died so that they could enjoy this and every other day.

Take just one war, World War II. During that war, more than 400,00 American soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen died fighting in the European and Pacific theaters.

Soldiers brace themselves for the bloody invasion along Normandy         A group of wounded American soldiers wait to be evacuated from the beach at Normandy

The Normandy American Cemetery, near Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, containing the graves of 9,386 dead.

US Marines crawl their way up the coastline of Iwo Jima, while under heavy fire from the surprisingly intact Japanese defenses

Marines under fire on Iwo Jima

US Marine cemetery on Iwo Jima

 

One battle is personal for me. Two of my high school friends died fighting on the sands of Iwo Jima. One of them, Freddie Warren, preceded the legendary Y.A. Tittle as quarterback of the Marshall Mavericks football team. Thus, Memorial Day has not been a joyous day for me.

And a word about American POWs. Those who surrendered to the enemy were no less heroes than those who died in combat.

 American and Filipino POWs on the Batan death march

 US Marines taken prisoner by the Chinese at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea

  

American POWs in North Vietnam

"I like people who weren’t captured." Those were the words of a famous draft dodger. Donald Trump's father paid some doctor to make up a phony diagnosis of bad feet so that his son could avoid serving in the Vietnam War. The audacity of Donald Trump to disrespect POWs when he himself was a cowardly draft dodger shows the man has no shame.

 

American POWs did not choose to be captured. Unlike cowardly draft dodgers like Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, they fought for our country until taken prisoner.  They were often subjected to brutality by their Japanese, Chinese/Korean and Vietnamese captors. Many did not survive to come back home. Those POWs were heroes and should be honored and remembered as such.

 

America today is embroiled in racial animosity, hatred of the police, transgenderism and wokeness. That is not what America's soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen died for. What a shame!

 

I am proud to have served my country during World War II. I know the true meaning of Memorial Day. If you don't, shame, shame on you.