Here in the U.S. we have Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember, and honor those bore arms in the Service of the U.S., as well as those who bear them in present times. This small video reverence goes to all soldiers, of all Nations.
This photo has been making its rounds on Facebook:
Interesting. We have an equivalent here in Ireland, although it is not a public holiday. The situation here is, however, a bit more complicated. What started off as a commemoration of Irish soldiers who died in our “freedom struggle” rapidly extended to include just about all Irish soldiers who died in war. In our context, this includes the not inconsiderable number killed on United Nations service, those killied in Allied (mainly British) service in the World Wars and - I can only suppose - the vast number of Irishmen who died over the centuries in a variety of foreign armies, often for a mixture of patriotic and financial reasons. And, of course, we have revived our participation in the (separate and distinct) British Legion Ceremonies of Remembrance for Irish soldiers killed in the World Wars, specifically fighting in the British Army. Too much History in these here parts, I suppose … Best regards, JR.
I’ve always found pictures of the endless grave markers in military cemeteries very moving, but that photo adds a new and much more profound dimension.
I think to put in all in context, in America we also commemorate “Remembrance Day” on November 11th as “Veterans Day.” No one is quite sure exactly how Memorial Day started as putting flowers in the graves of servicemen is nothing new. But it dates back to at least the American Civil War here, probably to groups of women placing wreaths and flowers on recent graves during the conflict. Various Union and Confederate veterans organizations mourned their dead on various days and large African American groups of recently freed slaves honored the Union dead buried on Southern soil after the war. Then became a consolidated holiday to combine numerous remembrance days from both sides of that conflict. Here it is seen as essentially the first major summer holiday and the beginning of the summer season. So for a lot of people, it was little more than a day to grill and drink. Or maybe at most they watched the war movie marathons on the cable movie networks. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made things a bit more poignant in recent years with the installation of fresh graves of service personnel killed since 2001…
Memorial day is more to commemorate the fallen or passe.
Veterans day In November is for us folks who made it back.
Personally I don’t care for the cemetary pics-I believe many are simply posed.
Grief is a personal thing to me-some of these pics are just plain creepy.
Just my opinion.