Memorial Day observances will be virtual this year
Flag garden postponed; cemeteries remain open
No parades, no ceremonies — Memorial Day during a pandemic will be a much different holiday this year.
What would have been a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, with bands playing patriotic music, wreaths laid at memorials, honor guards carrying flags and buglers playing taps will, in effect, be a virtual Memorial Day.
Though Memorial Day weekend is traditionally the kickoff to summer, and many people think of it as a three-day holiday to picnic, fire up barbecues and hang out with family and friends, veterans in particular hold the day dear.
A time to honor Americans who lost their lives while serving our country, Memorial Day dates, in one form or another, to a time when Civil War veterans wanted to remember their friends who did not return home.
This Memorial Day, it's not safe for many veterans to venture out for parades and events or to mingle with a lot of people.
“Not only are they of the age group affected most by coronavirus, but often many who served tend to have underlying health conditions associated with their service, whether its exposure to Agent Orange or burn pits or a lot of other respiratory illnesses and carcinogens,” said War Memorial Center President and CEO Dan Buttery, an Iraq veteran.
Planning for what would have been Milwaukee's 155th Memorial Day parade started months ago. The schedule included a military flyover, 115 units, four marching bands and around 1,500 participants — plus thousands lining Wisconsin Avenue to the War Memorial Center.
But considering the age of veterans and difficulty booking marching bands while schools are closed, parade officials decided in March to cancel and return donations, hoping people will donate for next year's event.
“Anytime you have to cancel something pertaining to veterans, it's hard,” said Milwaukee Memorial Day Parade President Karen Armstrong. “But due to the safety of everyone, it was a decision we just had to make.”
The parade always ends at the War Memorial, where wreaths are laid and bricks in the memory of individual veterans are formally dedicated. This year, War Memorial officials planned to launch a flag garden with almost 3,000 flags around the Douglas MacArthur statue.
Buttery said the flag garden is postponed until late August and will be tied to a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of VJ Day and the end of World War II. The War Memorial asked people to submit brief stories and photos of deceased loved ones who served in the military for an electronic newsletter that will be posted on Memorial Day.
Website focuses on virtual celebrations
The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and Wisconsin Veterans Museum created a website with ways for people to celebrate Memorial Day on their own or in small groups.
The website features links to a video of pre-recorded tributes from Gov. Tony Evers, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Mary Kolar and others, and printable American flags with the words “We Remember.” The flags come in color and black-and-white versions for kids to color at home and hang in windows.
State veterans officials are encouraging folks to play taps on their smartphones at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day from their windows or driveways, or wherever they are and included a link to the song and its words on the website, WisVetsMemorialDay2020.com
During the 3 p.m. national moment of remembrance, Kolar will lead a moment of silence from the Capitol, which will be streamed live on Facebook.
The website includes tips for proper flag etiquette and how to set up a “missing man” table at home. There is also a Facebook frame to virtually place a flag and flowers for a Wisconsin veteran's headstone.
“Memorial Day is traditionally remembered with gatherings,” said Kevin Hampton, curator of history at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison. “We're in a situation this year where you can't replace that
experience, you can’t be by the gravesite of someone who served their country.”
But Hampton said there is an opportunity this year to reach a broader audience online than those who usually go to cemeteries on Memorial Day.
Small flags are normally placed at the headstones of veterans, but because of the pandemic that won’t be done at any of the nation’s veterans cemeteries, including Wood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s only national veterans cemetery. Families and community members are welcome to place flags on graves to honor friends and family.
At Wisconsin’s three state veterans cemeteries in Union Grove, King and Spooner, hundreds of volunteers gather at each location a few days before Memorial Day to place flags. Not this year.
Instead, a small group of staff members will handle that task, said Gary Dierks, director of the Bureau of Veterans Cemeteries and Memorial Services for the state Department of Veterans Affairs.
The cancellation of Memorial Day observances is particularly difficult this year because of the rapidly dwindling number of World War II veterans who would have participated in 75th anniversary events.
“It strikes us at the cemeteries regularly, the World War II veterans that we’re losing,” said Dierks.
Hampton noted that the current number of veterans living in Wisconsin is more than 300,000, roughly the same number of Wisconsinites who served in World War II, a group that for many decades was the largest veteran population.
“On Memorial Day it’s even more poignant to remember it was created by Civil War veterans who wanted a day to remember their fallen comrades,” said Hampton. “We have World War II veterans who desperately want to do that but because of age and the coronavirus situation they can’t do that.”
Cemeteries have remained open
Veterans cemeteries have remained open from sunup to sundown throughout the coronavirus outbreak, as has the War Memorial Center’s outdoor area, which features an eternal flame and monuments.
“Almost every day there are loved ones who just show up unannounced. They’re normally there the day their loved one was lost,” said Buttery. “It’s usually a very private event and it’s outside so people can socially distance.”
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War have honored their ancestors for years on Memorial Day at Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee, where around 300 Civil War veterans are buried. Last year’s Memorial Day event drew more than 400 people, including keynote speaker Archbishop Jerome Listecki.
Plans this year were for music by the Wisconsin 1st Brigade Band playing Civil War era instruments and Cushing’s Battery reenactors firing a cannon.
Instead, members will have a small private ceremony and place flowers on some graves before Memorial Day.
“We are mindful that our predecessors have gone there since 1927, and probably even earlier, and prayed over these graves,” said Tom Mueller, past commander of C.K. Pier Badger Camp No. 1. “And we will do the same.”