By Allen Hamrick
During a trip to Arlington, I met a man sitting in a wheelchair while attached to an oxygen tank. He was very weak, but when he shook hands it was firm, like all his strength was put into that one hand shake. He spoke slowly, and his words were well thought as if he had few left. We talked for an hour or so until his breath was getting hard to come by. He said his family was spread across the country and were just too busy to come by. Thoughts went from present to the past as he told his story. He wanted to talk, and, more importantly, he wanted to remember. We were near Arlington; he could see it in the distance but just couldn’t get there in his situation. He had fought in WWII and spoke of how it changed his life. As his eyes glassed over, he remembered the men who had fallen in the battles he was involved in. He had lived through some of the bloodiest fighting in World War II and saw fellow soldiers shot to pieces. He braved many firefights, not to be a hero, but for freedom and for his family back home. He didn’t run; he fought so that Americans from that point on would get the chance to live their dreams. Soldiers, male and female, fight today because they are asked to do it. They don’t do it for the money but for country. The only things that really matter, he said, “When you’re on the edge of your life and your eyes close for the last time, whether it be sickness, tragedy or war, nobody screams for money, cars or fame just family and friends, and that’s why I did it…for them.”
He, like so many this Memorial Day who paid a debt they didn’t cause or owe in service to the people, lay beneath the sod with a small flag that gently waves as the wind drifts across their tombs. We have to remember how terrible wars are. If you have never heard the exploding bombs, felt bullets so close they ripped your clothes, sat in a muddy foxhole with death all around and wondered if this is really for freedom or something else, constantly question and wonder if it your last day and if it is worth it, you don’t have the depth of understanding of those that have lived it. There has never been a war that wasn’t politically motivated, from the Dark Ages to the present; check your history books, what’s left of them, if you’re in doubt. Individually, though, America, West Virginia, or Clay County would not be what it is today without the colorful lives of a people who were not perfect and did not always make the best decisions but believed in this country where people could grow from childhood with dreams to a life of achieving them. It is why it is important to give more than a passing glance to those that fought and died in the service of this country and to its people. Their code of honor and lifestyle of strength needs to be observed because the honor we should feel in observance is due to the fact that we know that their selfless sacrifice in service to “we the people” makes it possible for us to live our lives in whatever capacity we want. With all the chaos in the world, politically and mentally, prices of everything going up and the dollar going down, it makes people wonder if any war ever, was worth it in the long run…but our soldiers still fight. It is tough things to ponder, so, when you see a veteran of a war or pass a lone grave with the American flag waving heralding the death of a soldier, take a minute to remember them and be grateful. There is no doubt that they have experienced in reality what you see in movies or on a game.
Also, don’t forget to remember what those who have already gone on did for this country because if you do not remember their sacrifices, they will have died for nothing. Memorial Day in today’s era is thought of as a day to remember all people who have died, and indeed they should be remembered because if their memory is lost, it is lost forever.