The RTO (Part I) Perhaps it was fitting that it was on Memorial Day that I first spoke to former U.S. Army Sergeant Ed Rish. Memorial Day, which was originally called Decoration Day, was first celebrated on the 30th of May, 1868. At the time, flowers were placed on soldier’s graves to honor their sacrifice. And years later, in 1915, Moina Michael penned a poem in honor of Memorial Day: “We cherish too, the Poppy red That grows on fields where valor led, It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies." It was Miss Michaels who then came up with the tradition of wearing a red poppy on Memorial Day to honor our fallen soldiers. It wasn’t until 1971 that Congress passed the National Holiday Act, making it a federal, nationwide holiday. Over the years, the majority of American citizens have forgotten the true meaning of the day, seeing it instead as a day to shop the many sales so readily available. The courageous sacrifices made by soldiers past and present have been all but forgotten. Graves are untended and overgrown, and Memorial Day parades have become rare. In fact, Washington, D.C., had not held a Memorial Day parade in sixty years when it finally had one in 2004. In 2000, 132 years after Decoration Day began, a group of school children touring the nation’s capital were asked if they knew what Memorial Day was. When they replied that it was the day the swimming pools open, tour guides were appropriately horrified. As a result, the National Moment of Remembrance was passed. The Moment asks that all Americans pause at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day to remember our military men and women’s many sacrifices. It is a single minute of respect that not many people even realize exists. Sgt. Rish served our nation in Vietnam, and like so many soldiers of that era, was rarely properly thanked for his service in the years that followed. During his flight home, he was seated next to a woman with a small child who requested the flight attendant move him to a different seat. She didn’t want her child sitting next to a soldier. Little did she know that the young man she so shamefully had removed from her presence was an oft-decorated warrior who had served valiantly, saved lives and honored the fallen in countless ways. If there had been an assailant of some sort on that flight who had threatened her child’s life, he would not have hesitated to put himself in harm’s way to protect this callous stranger’s beloved son.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 02:33:42 +0000
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