Memorial Day question.

[eveled]

Every year I see a lot of posts about the real meaning of Memorial Day. I get it, some people need a reminder or in some cases an education. Memorial Day is about those who died in defense of our country.

If that is true why are all veterans graves given flags on Memorial Day? Not saying they don't deserve a flag on their grave, just wondering.

It seems to me Memorial Day is about deceased veterans no matter when they died. All gave some, some gave all. This is also what I grew up believing.

I was also wondering were all the flags go after they are removed.

 

[cas6969]

It certainly would be a lot more time consuming only putting them on the graves of KIA. A whole lot of reading and a little math.

 

[Bob Wright]

I hold the opinion, unpopular as it may be, the honor is for the service, not the death. Therefore all veterans who lie in cemeteries today deserve honor, whether death came on the battlefield or at home.

To whom should go the greater honor, a soldier who died from a machine bullet as he stepped off the landing craft at Normandy, or the one who survived that day and fought through the breakout and the Bulge?


Bob Wright

 

[CGDustDevil]

Every year I see a lot of posts about the real meaning of Memorial Day. I get it, some people need a reminder or in some cases an education. Memorial Day is about those who died in defense of our country.

If that is true why are all veterans graves given flags on Memorial Day? Not saying they don't deserve a flag on their grave, just wondering.

It seems to me Memorial Day is about deceased veterans no matter when they died. All gave some, some gave all. This is also what I grew up believing.

I was also wondering were all the flags go after they are removed.

I think you'll find that the photos and videos you see at cemeteries where every grave gets a flag occurs because those graves are ALL servicemen/women who died serving, which is what Memorial Day is all about. As opos posted yesterday, if you visit a military cemetery like Fort Rosecrans in San Diego, you'll see that not every grave gets a flag. I think you'll find that other cemeteries like Arlington don't get gratuitous flags either.

There is actually a LOT of order to military grave sites. They know who's buried where, and the graves are carefully arranged.

I don't know about the flags, but I'd be VERY surprised if they weren't picked up, stored and re-used until the condition warrants replacement.

 

[eveled]

The research I did says every service member gets a flag at Arlington. The skipped graves may be family members?

I thought of another question. Has anybody heard of Memorial Day ceremonies for service men buried @ sea?

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Riverside National Cemetery in CA puts a flag on EVERY grave. The "order" of their burials is chronological: one section is developed for use, and the person in Site 2 of his or her section was buried after the one in Site 1 and before the one in Site 3, etc. When that section's full, repeat the drill. I go there every year on Memorial Day to "visit" with some friends, none of whom were lost in action. That does NOT mean some of them didn't suffer horrific injuries and shortened lives as a result.

Sometimes what we call "honor" is simply a matter of bad luck. As Bob Wright suggested, I won't say the gentleman who came home from Korea missing a leg and carrying who knows how much shrapnel fought with any less honor than the other three fellows in the same Jeep who died when that land mine went off under the four of them. Nor will I dare demean the scars of a former coworker who survived two wounds which should have killed him but didn't, one being from the mortar strike in a foxhole in Viet Nam which killed one or two other fellows in there with him. When he's gone, he'll be on my list to visit, and it won't matter a bit to me that he didn't come home with a flag draping his box.

In the same vein, to say my uncle who was a WWII Army medic, or a couple of friends who were Navy corpsmen in Viet Nam didn't offer service as valuable or honorable as that of another friend's uncle, a sniper whose job it was to take out German pillboxes at Normandy, would be a huge mistake. There's a lot more to combat than just shooting or getting shot at... and I'll bet any of you who's ever screamed "Medic!" at the top of your lungs understands that all too well.

I suppose I'm fortunate in that I've never lost a family member or friend in combat. Some might think that unfortunate, in that I'm not able to understand the true grief a Gold Star family experiences, but, again, there's that luck factor again. So to say I don't honor the "true meaning" of Memorial Day as it was originally designated may be true, and to those who wish to nitpick, so be it. I prefer to honor the men and women who've served, because they did, rather than question whether there's a particular check mark in a box they have, or don't, which describes how they got where they are today. I don't see how paying our respects and honoring those who "gave some" lessens the value of the sacrifices of those who "gave all." We each mourn, grieve and pay our respects in our own ways. And I don't think the dead really care.

One person's opinion only...

Rick C

 

[opos]

I think each cemetery has some "leeway" in the flag ceremony...I understand at Arlington there are some 70 sections and each service man or woman get's a flag...but I'm unsure of areas like the Confederate section where there are...among others....many slaves from the Civil war that are buried there...I understand they do not get flags...I also wonder about civilians that were on the shuttle that blew up and folks like Jackie Kennedy, etc.

Probably just a lot easier to cite the flags placed at the graves of service personnel rather than trying to single out all the "non flag" personnel..Arlington has had lots of controversy...Women pilots, nurses, etc all had different struggles to be allowed...whatever, it's a wonderful ceremony...and the quickness..Ihear it's about 4 hours to put out all the flags and they all get picked up and put away for the next year before the opening of the gates on the next morning.

 

[blackhawknj]

Unless you have an incredibly accurate and up to date data base, how can you tell who died in service as opposed to just served ?

 

[toysoldier]

Several online accounts of the establishment of Memorial Day all refer to it as a day to honor those who died in service to the country. I don't see why anyone would object to honoring all those who served and lived. My uncle had already served for a year at Wheeler Airfield when it was hit on December 7. He spent another year there, and three more in the states. That's a big chunk of a young man's life in service to his country. He lived another 70 years, contributing to this nation's security doing classified work that ranged from maintaining the ELINT network, to data recording on the U-2, and designing an altitude trigger for nuclear weapons. He deserves the honor of a flag as much as an 18-year-old Army private who got cut in half by machine gun fire as soon as the ramp dropped at Normandy.

 

[opos]

Several online accounts of the establishment of Memorial Day all refer to it as a day to honor those who died in service to the country. I don't see why anyone would object to honoring all those who served and lived. My uncle had already served for a year at Wheeler Airfield when it was hit on December 7. He spent another year there, and three more in the states. That's a big chunk of a young man's life in service to his country. He lived another 70 years, contributing to this nation's security doing classified work that ranged from maintaining the ELINT network, to data recording on the U-2, and designing an altitude trigger for nuclear weapons. He deserves the honor of a flag as much as an 18-year-old Army private who got cut in half by machine gun fire as soon as the ramp dropped at Normandy.

Don't know that anyone meant to imply that a service man or woman had to be killed in action...I mentioned my Wife's Dad was at Pearl Harbor..he served out a career in the Navy and then retired and was involved in other business...when he died at 80 he was buried at Fort Rosecrans cemetery. I think the distinction was over the comment that all markers got a flag placed for Memorial Day and while the normal thinking is that if a person is buried in a National cemetery then they must have been service veterans...not true...the Challenger crew is in Arlington and not all were members of the armed forces...the Confederate slaves in the Confederate portion of Arlington were not service connected....Jackie Kennedy was not service connected but she is there..

I think it's just easier to look at and cite the "mass" number than singling out people here and there that are in the National Cemeteries but were never members of the Armed Services. Here is a link to "elegibility"..seems that if a person fits all the elegibility requirements a request for burial can be submitted....I don't know what the "selection" criteria is.... http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/burial_benefits/eligible.asp

There are 70 separate "cemeteries" within Arlington as I understand it and like the slaves in the Confederate grounds I'd bet there are any number of non service veterans that have gotten special consideration but I don't believe they get the little flag.

Rosecrans had recently completed a "wall" for ashes from cremation. Many people had to keep the ashes while the wall was being finished and there were reserved spaces for folks that had been approved....the wall was mostly at capacity with designated remains by the time it was finished as I understand it. Arlington may just be out of space....I think there has been controversy over some of the "political" burials there...I think Bobby Kennedy was buried there with the "family" and not sure he was military at all.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Anybody wonder why there is no Memorial Day for all the civilians killed in past wars?