Special days set aside to give thanks, honor veterans
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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
I hope everyone took time last Monday to think about all of our soldiers who never came home from battle.
Memorial Day is one of the special days that have been created for us to stop and give thanks for the men and women who gave their lives so that our country can enjoy the freedom that we have. It should help us all realize that there truly is a price that is paid on our behalf.
Unfortunately, many people have lost sight of what these special days were meant to remind us of – they have just become days they have a long weekend to go to the beach, the lake, the golf course, fishing, or just lazing around the house cooking on the grill. Many children have no idea whatsoever the true meaning of these hallowed days and how they are actually meant to be spent – at least partly.
Patriotism in our country has waned, but I am so hopeful that we can find our way back to it.
In just a week we will have another day to honor the bravery of our military who stormed the beaches of Normandy, flew air missions over enemy territory to drop parachutists or bomb facilities, guided landing crafts filled with troops, manned guns on ships to help provide our soldiers with some form of protection, and those who were in the supporting roles for all of these.
The majority of these soldiers and sailors were probably still in their teens or early twenties, but they had VOLUNTEERED to unselfishly put themselves in harms way to stop the world from being taken over by power hungry mad men.
World War II was actually a war of racism much more than our Civil War was. Both the Nazis and Japanese thought of themselves as the dominate race of superiority. While our Civil War was generally concentrated on fighting and killing other soldiers, World War II was waged against civilians and particularly those of the Jewish faith, eastern European lineage, disabled in some way, and other types of people that were not pure enough to be a part of the “master races.” June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of the end of the persecution of the people of Europe.
Barely a month after our remembrance of D-Day, we will celebrate the official birthday of our freedom from Great Britain and the establishment of the United States of America.
In 1776 patriots gathered to establish an independent country of sovereign states who would join together in mutual aid and support. They wrote a Declaration of Independence from foreign governance and called on all Americans to join together. The people would be free from “taxation without representation,” but unfortunately they had to fight a war of revolution to gain that freedom. But gain freedom they did.
In November we have another day set aside to honor and remember all of our military veterans since the Revolutionary War who fought on our behalf. Some of these brave souls came home safely, came home injured, or didn’t come home at all. But they all put on the uniform of one of the United States of America service branches and went off to protect our country and our way of life.
Veterans Day is a day that, in my opinion, should be spent in one of the many national cemeteries all across our country where all the headstones mark at least one person who vowed to protect our nation from enemies both foreign and domestic.
And then, on December 7, we recognize the “Day of Infamy” when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor to destroy our Pacific fleet and opened the door for them to take over the Hawaiian Islands to stage an attack on our mainland. This was the closest attack ever to our mainland from a foreign country. Until that time, the United States had been supporting other countries in the wars but not directly involved. Pearl Harbor changed all of that as we declared war on Japan, and Germany and Italy declared war on us the next day. We were then fully engaged in World War II.
We have quite a few holidays throughout the year – New Year’s Day, holidays for birthdays of important people or occasions, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We have religious celebrations and a day to celebrate our labor. But out of all of these, certainly we could take time on Memorial Day, D-Day, Independence Day, and Pearl Harbor Day to spend some time in thanks, appreciation, honor, and commemoration of our wonderful military members who have safeguarded us for more than 248 years.
Fly flags, go to cemeteries, visit memorials, take refreshments to veterans homes. Parents – take your children somewhere to teach them the importance of these events in our history. If they don’t grasp the importance of patriotism for our wonderful country we will not exist another 248 years.
God bless America – this land that we love.