Besides fun with friends, family and gatherings for good grub, Memorial Day is intended as a sober pause to consider just how much men and women throughout many generations sacrificed for our American freedom.
I just installed a flag holder on our front porch, and intend to keep the flag flying at least through Independence Day – maybe longer – especially since this year marks the milestone of America’s 250th birthday. Everything stars and stripes-related is currently on the market because of what this year means; my wife even recently purchased a summer sun dress sporting an American flag design.
The true meaning
But let us not forget what the U.S. flag truly stands for.
We were freshly reminded of this a couple weeks ago when we visited my wife’s brother in Oahu, Hawaii. He is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, stationed on Hickam Air Force Base, which is adjacent to Pearl Harbor Naval Base. The office building where he works was formerly barracks.
On a peaceful Sunday morning on December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter pilots riddled the building with bullets and killed hundreds of men inside. The walls, stairs, and courtyard are still pocketed with holes.
Instead of tearing the building down, it is an enduring monument to and testimony of the sacrifices made within it. Inside the courtyard today is a memorial, complete with signage, a reflecting pool and waterfall, beautiful exotic flowers, and most importantly, the American flag that was flying over the barracks at the time of the attack.
Just after it became clear the Japanese had completed their devastating mission to destroy as many United States military ships and planes as possible, a few men ceremonially lowered and folded the tattered flag (pictured top).
Out of respect for those stars and stripes, instead of encasing the flag in glass facing the correct way, which would reveal all the rips, bullet holes, and overall damage, it is exhibited facing backwards to display its “good side.” That presentation alone is poignant. That one flag visible within the courtyard of a bombed and machined-gunned building, still very much in use today, conveys clearly American military resolve.
In fact, many of the buildings damaged on Hickam and at Pearl Harbor are currently in use. The military there is stronger and more present than ever within the entire region of the island Oahu. This is despite the military and civilian personnel killed that infamous December day. This is despite one ship, the USS ARIZONA (BB-39), entombing more than 1,000 Sailors and U.S. Marines. The USS OKLAHOMA (BB-37) lost 429 men and the USS UTAH (BB-31) 58, 54 of which were never recovered from the vessel. There is a memorial to the Oklahoma in the immediate area as well.
Powerful reminders
I traveled to Oahu 29 times for work during my career with the Navy, and then with the National Security Agency. While there, I visited multiple times what is now the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor and I have never tired of being reminded what happened there – and how those men died serving their country.
During our recent trip, in early May, my wife spoke to the tour barge’s driver, a young Navy Seaman Apprentice (E-2) at his first posting. He told us it was a privilege to have received that assignment, even though it is a solemn one.
Basically, many times a day, he and other Sailors take veterans, tourists, and active military out to a floating structure constructed over the middle section of the Arizona, which is still lying visible just below the surface of the harbor’s water.
Visitors are encouraged to remain quiet out of respect for the men entombed in the ship just below them. On a wall in the memorial structure are the names of all the men lost. The U.S. flag flies high over one of the ship’s gun turrets that rises just barely above the water’s surface.
Make it local, and thank God
Around this country and even in Macon County, there exists graves, monuments, signage, and memorials to people who gave the ultimate sacrifice, from the Revolutionary War through two centuries-plus and our modern-day wars and conflicts. Every time we remember them, we need to pause and be thankful that there were, and still are people willing to protect our great country.
With this in mind, I encourage everyone to take a moment sometime during Monday’s Memorial Day and thank God for military men and women – the living and the dead who have served and sacrificed for all of our collective freedoms. Certainly, celebrate with picnics and potlucks, cornhole and horseshoes, but also know that Memorial Day is not just a day off, but a time for truly honoring many individuals’ patriotism and bravery.
Editor’s Note: Deena Bouknight, Dan’s talented writer wife, helped with this article.
