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A message from retired Brig. Gen. J. Roy Robinson, the NGAUS president:
This weekend, many will travel to the beach, attend a backyard barbeque, or enjoy a day off by the pool. Others will choose to visit a local veterans cemetery or travel to Arlington National Cemetery to walk among the nearly 400,000 service members who are laid there at eternal rest.
And then there are the family members, friends and fellow service members who know too intimately the cost of war and the value of those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.
To us, there is depth and emotion when the name on the grave is said aloud. We celebrate the life lived and mourn the life that was given on our behalf.
But what makes Memorial Day significant is we come together in the deliberate action of remembrance and honor.
From the early tradition of decorating the graves of the war dead with flowers to the more formal ceremonies of today, Americans have recognized the importance of honoring those who have fallen in defense of freedom.
Since Memorial Day was established as a federal holiday in 1971, a smaller percentage of Americans have chosen to serve. Many have been spared the personal impact of war or the sacrifices of service.
Thus, it is even more important that we come together as a nation to take the deliberate action of pausing for a moment of silence. In doing so, we show respect to the dead and support for the living who shoulder the burden of the greatest sacrifice every day.
In the first national commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery, then-Congressman James A. Garfield said, “We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”
On Memorial Day, let us speak their names, honor their sacrifices and never forget why we have the freedoms enjoyed on this day.
