TRAILS & TALES OUTDOORS JOURNAL for 05/28/10

“Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend”

As a kid growing up in the central Upper Peninsula, Memorial Day was an individual holiday that stood alone and meant that school was almost done for the year and we were about to embark on three solid months of playing outdoors.

I do recall it was also a day when we took a ride to the cemetery and visited the grave sites of relatives, mostly grandparents or others who had passed on before I got to know them. It was unremarkable except for the quiet mood of my parents while there.

In those days war to a kid meant a movie or weekly television show. Our heroes were the likes of Vic Morrow or Rick Jason from the series “Combat” about World War II. Back then I truly believed that John Wayne was responsible for winning the war in Europe, and that he pretty much single handedly won the battles in and around the Pacific theatre.

I would later learn that my father, uncles, aunts and their friends were the real soldiers of that era and some after.

I’m not sure of the frequency of holiday parades or church festivals back then, but I do know that more often than not, when Memorial Day rolled around it was the first big picnic of the season for our whole clan.

We’d pack up early in the day, usually a Sunday when no one in our families had to work, and caravan to a remote location for a day of fun and games. There were special locations to pick as a final destination, many of which are still open today.

The real significance of Memorial Day didn’t hit home until my high school years when in 1968, the United States Congress passed the uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. In 1971, the year I graduated from high school, Memorial Day was set to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.

It was also a period in time when some of my friends were becoming real soldiers, headed for Vietnam, many of whom would be forever changed from what they used to be. Until then, the word mortality never seemed to enter our thoughts.

Having evolved from originally being a day to remember those soldiers that died in the Civil War, into what for many is now the first official weekend of summer - especially for campers, Memorial Day has perhaps seen some of the important observations slip on by without the appreciation they were supposed to have.

As an example, this week and leading up to Memorial Day, you’ll see many of the Veterans of Foreign Wars out taking donations for poppies. The poppy’s significance to Memorial Day is the result of the John McCrae poem “In Flanders Fields”.

The poem written during World War I, as an account of the authors 22 year old friend being killed in battle the day before, refers to the poppies that grew in profusion in Flanders, in the disturbed earth of the battlefields and cemeteries near Waregem, Belgium, where war casualties were buried.

Another traditional observance of Memorial Day is to hold a moment of remembrance at 3 p.m., local time and/or to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff from dawn until noon, also at local time.

Many of us have children who, at a young age, witnessed our country being attacked by terrorists on 9/11, 2001. Some of them now have children of their own or have themselves become joined the military, a good number fighting in the middle east. It is but a sad reminder of how history seemingly repeats itself. I now better understand the solemn mood of my parents in visiting the cemetery when I was young.

I think these small observances to honor those that have given the ultimate sacrifice in protecting our freedom should continue to be important. We should observe Memorial Day with these traditions combined with the festive enjoyment seen today. I also believe those who died would be proud to know how many come together during this time to join in the fellowship outdoors on a picnic or at a campsite for the whole weekend.

If you see a veteran selling poppies, buy one and say thanks to him or her for what role they played in protecting our freedom.

Wherever you are fly a flag at half-staff from dawn to noon or take some time to pause for a moment in silence with friends and family at 3 p.m., this Memorial Day, in honor of those fallen. .

Most importantly, take some time with a youngster by your side, to reflect on why we do have such traditions and explain how people in other countries do not have the ability to enjoy all that is about them, like we do here at home.

Perhaps they’ll start appreciating life a little sooner than we did and will maybe work a little more efficiently in making peace the real deal for all.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend. Please be safe.