Routine of Memorial Day belies the tragedy of war
There was a Memorial Day service held on the Village Green in Park Forest last week. You were not alone if you missed it. Almost all the residents of the community that once prided itself on being a haven for veterans returning from a great war were someplace else.
As usual, the national anthem was played, the bugler performed taps, an honor guard shot their rifles, a large flag was folded triangularly and wreaths were placed near a plaque inscribed with the names of six village residents who died in combat.
The few witnesses to the ceremony, which included five of the seven village trustees, seemed to be the same faces one sees year to year. Apart from a new speech by the new mayor, the 30-minute ceremony seemed to be a rerun of previous years. Time is the great leveler, and the only difference between the years is that some of the faces once seen at the event are no longer there.
Someone asked if there was a way to get more citizens to attend the event.
People forget, I thought. People do not want to be bothered, I imagined. People do not understand, I assumed. People don’t care, I feared.
The connection between the ceremony the Park Forest American Legion Post 1198 performs each Memorial Day and the distinguished history of the village which was built as a haven for veterans returning from World War II still lives. Some 20 or so years ago, the post spearheaded a move to designate with special street signs the 18 thoroughfares in the village named for Illinois recipients of the Medal of Honor during World War II.
There is this fragile distinction in our nation’s memory between our annual tribute to the military on Veterans Day in November and a slight pause to note our military dead on Memorial Day in May.
History tells us It used to be called Decoration Day and for 102 years, or until 1970, it was a national holiday always