Remember

Yesterday the wife and I went to the Memorial Day observances at the Yankee Air Museum in Belleville, MI. We went there because the vocal group she performs in was going to be singing as part of the ceremonies. I mainly went along because I'm a dutiful husband. Had I given it more thought I would have gone simply to observe the Day.

Over the years we have been fairly regular in attending Memorial Day remembrances for those who have served to protect our country. For the last four years we have attended the local Memorial Day service as our daughter's band marched in its parade. Even before then we often attended some sort of Memorial Day ceremony, and if circumstances prevented us from attending we would take a moment and remember those who had served. As both my father and father-in-law are vets, I feel it is my duty as a civilian to remember those who have made it possible for me to live the way I do. I've come to feel that attending ceremonies such as these are an important way to remind myself of their sacrifices.

When we arrived I found another reason for being there: airplanes. The YAM takes old military planes and restores them. A few are kept in flying condition, and the rest are put on display. A couple of the largest are even open for people to walk through. I happily spent a bit of time walking around taking pictures of them as we waited for the time for the ceremony to begin. I was especially fond of the towering B-52 Stratofortress, a plane so large that the Ypsilanti Community Concert Band set up and played in the shelter of one wing.

I stood there surrounded by airplanes that made up our country's military history, and the thought came to me that many service men and women had served, lived, bled, and died in planes such as these. While the airplanes were interesting photography subjects to me, they were reminders of service given to others. Of the few hundred of us that were attending, many of those were either veterans who had served on one of these planes or had a link to those who served in the air.

The keynote speaker at this event was astronaut Jack Lousma. He gave a good speech, complete with pithy quotes from Abraham Lincoln that I wish many politicians would heed (but that is another blog entry). Representatives from the Tuskegee Airmen said a few words. Plaques and awards were handed out.

Over the course of this ceremony my brain kept returning to something the President of the museum said in his opening remarks. He spoke of the need to remember those who fell in service to their country, and to honor those who served and returned to civilian life. I hear these same words every year, and I usually just nod my head in agreement. But this time it occurred to me that he was preaching to the choir. Those of us who were there were doing just that.

What would happen if everyone in this country would reflect, remember, and recognize the sacrifices that these brave people made, not just those of us who came out for yearly observances? What if we all keenly felt it is our duty to not take for granted what has been freely given to us by our fellow countrymen through their blood, sweat, and tears? I think a great many political debates would die on the vine if such an attitude was prevalent.

So if you did not attend a Memorial Day ceremony yesterday, if you did not give a thought to why we live in this great country, if yesterday was just an extra day off of work, please take a moment and let gratitude fill your heart. I'm not asking that you stop a vet, shake their hand, and thank them publicly. I simply ask that you recognize, if only in your innermost thoughts, that the service of current and former members of the military has affected your life for the better.

And to all of the veterans of our armed forces, active service men and women, and families of our deceased heroes I can only say from the depths of my heart:

Thank you.