Just a Thought: Memorial Day
By Steve Walker
Tomorrow
we celebrate Memorial Day. As we all know it is a US federal holiday for the
men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces and are
remembered for their service to our county.
For
those who are unaware, the holiday, formerly known as Decoration Day, is
celebrated every year on the final Monday of May. It originated after the
American Civil War commemorated the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in
the Civil War.
By
the 20th century, Memorial Day was extended to honor all Americans who have
died while in the military service.
Here in San Antonio better known as
"Military City" residents go all out to honor our country’s local
deceased war heroes, survivors and those who continue to serve in the military
all over the world.
The Edgewood ISD and the Edgewood High
School Class of 1967 will co-host one of the largest Memorial Day ceremonies in
San Antonio. The 28th Annual Memorial Ceremony begins with a
musical prelude at 9:30 a.m. followed by ceremonies at the Edgewood Veteran’s
Stadium formerly known as the Frank Mata Stadium. The stadium is located at
1650 W. Thompson Place behind Kennedy High School.
The Edgewood Class of 1967 has the
dubious distinction of losing more graduates as casualties in the Viet Nam War
than any other high school in the San Antonio Metroplex.
As a Vietnam Veteran myself that means
something to me personally of those that I knew who died there. San Antonio has
a long history of patriotic young men and women of all colors and ethnic
backgrounds willing to serve the best interests of our nation in a time of war
or peace. I alternately attend the Edgewood ceremony one year and Fort Sam Houston
the next.
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery will
simultaneously present their Memorial Day program at the assembly area on the
cemetery’s east side. That ceremony hosts Congressmen, VIPs, student choirs,
ROTC members, active duty personnel, family members who have lost loved ones to
war and many others commemorating our fallen heroes. That service is well
attended and open to the public.
Historically
on Memorial Day, the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of
the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it
remains only until noon. The flag is then raised to full-staff for the
remainder of the day.
The
half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave
their lives in service of their country. At noon, their memory is raised by the
living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in
their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.
Never
forgetting our fallen heroes we are reminded by the words of the National
Anthem.
“O say can you see by the dawn's
early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming. Whose
broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we
watched, were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets' red glare, the bombs
bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; O
say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free and the
home of the brave.”
And as always, I write “Just a Thought.”
Steve
Walker is a Vietnam Veteran, former
Judge and Journalist
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