That Same Small Town in Each of Us

I'm hoping the weather, which has been hit-and-miss for most of this spring (and decidedly wet while missing if you're keeping score) cooperates as Memorial Day, this coming Monday, marks the unofficial start of summer

When I was a kid (in the dark days of black and white TV and NO Internet) we called it Decoration Day because so many families spent some part of the day traveling to or at a cemetery decorating the grave of a fallen member of the Armed Forces (World War II, Korea, and the ongoing Vietnam War touched practically every family). We've grown accustomed to having professional armed forces now and often forget that for many years we had military conscription, often referred to as the draft. 

In our War for Independence, we had volunteers but conscription was a process to guarantee manpower. And for decades since then we called everyone regardless of age 'our boys in uniform.' After the draft was eliminated in 1973 and both sexes could serve, maybe because we thought it sounded silly to say 'our girls in uniform', we referred to 'our women in uniform', and once we did that, it made sense to also say 'our men in uniform.' Amazing the process by which we made men out of boys, eh? 

Memorial Day is now a big backyard barbecue day and almost everyone with a product or service to sell advertises their Memorial Day Specials. I suppose that's okay and at some level is actually part of what the holiday is about even when we get too busy to remember.

The Norwich Area Veterans Council in association with the City of Norwich and the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce hosts its annual Memorial Day Parade and Program, rain or shine, this Monday starting at noon with a parade from the Cathedral of Saint Patrick up Broadway to Chelsea Parade. 

This year's parade honors the Norwich Area Veteran, Bill "Top" Lee, USMC, and the Veteran Supporter of the Year, Ms. Veronica Hoard, and two more deserving people you would be hard-pressed to find.

There will be ceremonies at Chelsea Parade,  with a program of guest speakers and the placing of memorial wreaths on all the markers commemorating America's wars, on the north end of the Parade. It's a moment of reflection with an attitude of gratitude and I hope you can attend.    

A lot of very brave and talented people in this city and region, and across our country, sacrificed their lives so we could cook baby-back ribs or check out the bargains at the car dealerships. But not just the very brave and talented--a lot of frightened, flawed, and ultimately fragile men and women in uniform died so we could complain about the price of gas, politicians we don't like, or how our favorite ball club is off to slow start again. 

After the Chelsea Parade remembrance, I try to visit the Yantic Cemetery, a short walk from my home to spend a moment at the graves marked with American flags. It always feels like far too little but I’m not sure what else I can do.

Yantic Cemetery may not be as poetic, perhaps, as Flanders Field by John McCrae, but its silent eloquence is enough, I think, to remind us all that we live in the greatest nation in the history of the planet in part because of the sacrifice of those who served and how we should each strive a little harder to make our lives deserving of their sacrifice.
-bill kenny