When I was a kid, we went grave visiting on Memorial Day. I wasn't aware that the holiday was supposed to be in honor of those who had died while in the military. Mom made it about the deceased of her adoptive family. We took flowers and she carried a thermos kit that also had room for storing snacks along with juice, probably because we were kids and needed inducements to not get too wild in a setting that was supposed to solemn. After paying homage at a couple different cemeteries, we would go to one of her relative's house. It was the only day of the year that we visited them. I never really understood how we were related, but I remember the house -- an old two story wooden framed structure painted white, with a big front porch, and big lace doilies on almost every piece of furniture inside. That way of spending Memorial Day ended at some point in my teen years. Not sure why. No one in my families - bio, adoptive, or married into -- has died while in service in the 20th and 21st centuries, that I know of. But this year I'll be paying homage to the ancestors I've discovered who died in past centuries in the Civil War, Revolutionary War, and various other in service deaths in other lands and historical periods. What about you? What memories do you have about this upcoming holiday?
We display/hang our big American flag on our patio. Believe it or not, we've seen very people, if any, that do this in the apartment complexes we lived in. Many people don't care about holidays where our flag is put out. The only thing they think about is how to enjoy the day off they get. Boating and fishing are very popular here as well as in northeastern Florida (where we use to live). IOW, there are those that don't celebrate Memorial Day or Veterans Day because they don't know anyone that has served in the military. And, there are those that don't celebrate because both holidays remind them of the military and war that many don't want to be reminded of. Generally, we will watch celebrations on tv commemorating Memorial Day or Veterans Day.
@Cody Fousnaugh , you've reminded me that my dad, who was in the Navy in WWII, had a big flagpole in the front yard of their house in Estes Park, and he flew the flag there most of the time when they were there. Oddly, he didn't do the same in St Louis were I lived as a kid. There might have been subdivision rule about that, I'm not sure. I don't recall seeing many flags at houses then as there are now. Seems more a political statement these days than a purely patriotic one, as well as a lack of support for or connection with the military since the 70s. I think his flag was left to my son, but I think my ex (former USCG officer) has it now, probably for safe keeping until my son has a more settled life. I know I've seen a smaller flag put up near the front door of my ex's house on the military-connected holidays.
Do you know that.........if a person was to take a left-hand turn out of our apt. complex and another left-hand turn on Eisenhower Blvd., that highway would go straight into Estes Park, by way of going thru the foothills? We've been to Rocky Mountain National Park during the elk "rut" (breeding time). One of the entrances to the Park is in Estes Park. We've also been to the highest driving point in North America, called Trail Ridge Road, that goes thru RMNP. At the Summit, we were at 12,000 + feet elevation. Coming down, we went over the Continental Divide, exited RMNP right next to Grand Lake and Lake Granby.
I don't recall us doing anything special for the day when I was a kid. My dad was also a WW2 vet of German parents. My mother was British. You can guess how they met. Her brother was a Spitfire pilot, and survived the war. I'm not aware of any relatives lost in any wars. I had been going to a very small church here in the middle of first of the 13 colonies, erected upon a well-known Civil War battlefield. There are perhaps a dozen or so graves on the property. There is a Confederate soldier and a Union soldier buried side-by-side. I forget the circumstances, but there's a story. Other than that, the small church I'm going to now puts flags on the veterans' graves that are on their property, but I've never done anything like that before to honor the day. (I'm not certain how they know the ones who died in battle. Perhaps the dates on the markers.) I certainly understand the importance of the day, but have never engaged in any specific activities to observe it.
I gotta be the dampener here as I always am when the word celebration is mixed with Memorial Day. It’s a day of remembrance. Remembrance of the men and women whose lives were cut short defending this country. Moreover, to me it’s even more important to remember the men and women who didn’t make it back at all and are still missing. If the word celebration is to have any meaning at all, just as spring time is a time for new beginnings, perhaps it is also time to reflect and perhaps celebrate the fact that we are a free people and free to make each day a new beginning if we so choose. After all, people died so I can have that right. Maybe “celebrate” isn’t such a bad word after all...........
@Cody Fousnaugh -- up Hwy 34, sounds like? I know exactly where that is, drove it many times. And if you branch off at Drake to go up the North Fork Big Thompson to Devil's Gulch Road, you'd go right past my folks place off H Bar G, which sadly last time I saw it hadn't been well tended since they sold the place. We were summer residents in Estes from 62 until about 87, first with building a cabin at the Y, then the house. I worked at the Plantation and another restaurant on 34 -- that I can't remember the name of and don't think it's there anymore -- during summers when I was in high school. So sad to see that the Plantation Inn has burned down. Loved RMNP, especially Bear Lake until it got so overcrowded it needs a park and ride to get there! Good grief. Aren't the elk amazing? Last time I was there they were all over the place, wandering freely through the town. Ever walk down the Old Fall River Rd from somewhere near the Trail Ridge summit? Did that one year and it about killed me. LOL All day, down hill. Brutal. How fun to meet someone who knows Estes.
Not a dampener at all @Bobby Cole . I like that word difference, and maybe the day would be treated with more respect than with BBQs and sheet sales and raucous pool parties if we referred to remembrance rather than or in addition to celebration.
Yeah....kinda sorta. I think the date was set for 30 May but as the predecessor to Memorial Day it was mostly defined as a day of remembrance for those who died in the Civil War. Nowadays the two are pretty much combined but there are those who still “celebrate” Decoration Day as a separate event.
My memories of Memorial Day was it was just like any other day in that we remembered what sacrifices many have made for the freedoms we enjoy. 2020 and now 2021 has been one long memorial day for me as I watch these freedoms that cost many million lives, be slowly erased and their memories dishonored. Estes Park brings memories of skiing at Hidden Valley Ski during the mid-late 1960's. Since that is off thread, I will leave it at that.
My mother had a huge yard, and it was full of flowers. There were lilacs, peonies, lilies, and snowball bushes, as well as bridal wreath, which trailed down and really added to the huge bouquets that she made. We all went about 30+ miles to the town where my family members had been buried. I think that some had served in the military, but for us, it was just a day to honor our lost loved ones, and put the fresh flowers on all of the graves, and remember the person as we visited each grave. I remember that Mom and Dad would tell me about some of the long past family members as we visited their graves, and set out the bouquets. Sometimes, it was hard for them to find where in the cemetery the right graves were at, so we usually were there for at least a couple of hours, searching for all of the right grave markers. There was always more flowers than Mom needed, and neighbor families came to our house and my mom made bouquets for them to take to their family graves. Other than that, I do not really remember doing much on Memorial Day , which at that time was on May 30, no matter what, and was not a whole weekend holiday. If family came from out of town, then we probably had a picnic once we came back home from the cemetery.
When I was young, on decoration day there would be a large gathering at the church. The ladies would set up tables out on the lawn. Those tables would be filled with some of the best food EVER, along with mouthwatering desserts. I would always be made to eat some of the regular food, before they would turn me loose on the desserts.