Remembering and Reflecting on Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day, historically designated to honor those killed defending the United States in military battle.  Originally “Decoration Day,” the intention of the national holiday was to decorate the graves of fallen warriors. 

I remember as a child my parents, both non-combat Navy veterans, displaying the American flag religiously, following proper flag etiquette—raising the flag at sunrise, lowering it at sunset, taking care not to let it touch the ground.  We always watched the president display the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery on the nightly news.  

At school I learned about “patriotism,” mostly indirectly by learning patriotic songs:  The National Anthem, This is My Country, America the Beautiful, I’m a Yankee-doodle Dandy, The Marine Hymn (“…we will fight our country’s battles on the air and land and sea. First to fight for right and freedom…”), My Country Tis of Thee, the goal being to instill deep pride in the United States, if not a sense of blind trust in obedience to “my” country.

Then came the 1960s and Vietnam, war protest and criticism of U.S. policy and action around the world as well as at home.  Soldiers returning from Vietnam, and those killed or wounded there, not only were not honored, they were often derided to their faces—no hero’s welcome for them, and certainly no patriot’s pride.  After 9/11, when the U.S. undertook its “War on Terrorism,” the old-time patriotic fervor was revived, flags everywhere—and not just on Memorial Day—with a determination to never again dishonor our service personnel, in this case those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. 

I wholly appreciate the willingness of those individuals who sacrifice their livelihoods and daily lives, putting their lives on the line in service to their—our—nation. But I no longer blindly sing the patriotic anthems and hymns to a grand if not infallible nation.  I no longer silently, obediently accept the necessity of putting the lives of our young men and women on the line “over there,” without question.  

On this Memorial Day, I wonder how we honor the extreme sacrifice of U.S. service personnel without at the same time glorifying the bloodletting of war, too often waged for questionable reasons that underlie the public rhetoric of “national security” or “freedom and democracy.”  Writing about Veteran’s Day, Vietnam veteran David Harris agreed in 2010 that: 

“in commemorating historical events it is good that we celebrate courage and sacrifice whatever the circumstances that evoked them.  But there is a risk of convincing ourselves and younger generations coming up that the events themselves were glorious and triumphant, a risk of promoting the repetition of tragedy.”

He explains the role of war in his life, lamenting the fulfillment of his fear that the tragedies of war would in fact be repeated: 

 “I grew up during that second world war, went to college during the Korean War, and proudly enlisted as a young surgeon for two years in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, but I will not celebrate those years.

“The Korean War was a tragic stalemate in which over 50,000 GIs and uncounted Korean and Chinese soldiers died, leaving a country still divided today.

“The Vietnam War, as I came to realize, was an unjustified war that killed 57,000 young Americans and over 2,000,000 Vietnamese.

“Wars continue.”  

Harris then itemizes wars and military actions that’ve followed us into the 21^st century, identifying the costs to all of us:  “Whatever one thinks of war — just or unjust, for freedom or for oppression — the cost to the United States of maintaining an empire overseas and the cost to the American people of corporate globalization has meant an uncertain future in which national security means ever-shrinking personal security, in which wealth and power for those on top brings anger and frustration for the common person.”

We wave flags, we attend speeches and patriotic concerts, and we remember those men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for a grateful nation.  But if we’re true patriots, we refuse to send our children into harm’s way without question.  We demand a clear, accurate accounting of “defense spending” (we follow the money!) and a sound, ethical rationale for decisions that send our military into war to defend U.S. interests and inflict deadly violence on those “enemies” who challenge our causes.  

That is, we protect the interests of our community members and loved ones.  As former Senator George McGovern once chided his Senate colleagues:  “This chamber reeks of blood… it does not take any courage at all for a Congressman or a Senator or a President to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Viet Nam, because it is not our blood that is being shed.”

Source: Office of Management and Budget, Graph: Dylan Matthews (Washington Post 7 Jan, 2013)

He also defined a true patriot:  “The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy,” he declared, “but a love of one’s country deep enough to call her to a higher standard.”  Today calls on us to reflect upon the past, to honor and celebrate our service men and women killed in action, and I think we must teach such honor to our children.  But the best honor we can give our fallen heroes is to heed McGovern’s call to move our nation to a higher standard, one, hopefully, that focuses its energies on peace, engaging in war only as the very last resort.

http://nation.time.com/2012/10/21/the-american-quixote-the-death-of-george-mcgovern-1922-2012/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9526547

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/everything-chuck-hagel-needs-to-know-about-the-defense-budget-in-charts/