Washington honors Memorial Day

WASHINGTON — Small crowds gathered in a handful of public areas around Washington on Monday to recognize Memorial Day. Participants said it was important to honor those who lost their lives in wars throughout the nation’s history.

“Today is the most expensive holiday on the calendar,” retired Sgt. Maj. Bruce Timmins said at a Navy-Marines tribute held on the West Fork Crooked Creek Bridge, after a brief interruption from a passing train. “Every hot dog, every burger, every spin around the lake, or drink with friends and family is a debt purchased by others … (with) their life blood, and whose moms never saw them, whose dads wept in private, whose wives raised kids alone, whose kids only remember them from pictures. Today is a day to remember that others have paid for every free breath we ever get to take.”

Mike York, Commander of Washington’s American Legion Post, expressed a similar sentiment in his own speech.

“It is our responsibility to pass down, to the next generation, the true purpose of Memorial Day,” he said. “To honor the memory of those who gave their lives … not forgetting the cost of these freedoms.”

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At another American Legion-organized event in Washington’s Square later in the morning, retired Lt. Col. Darwin D. Peterson gave an overview of the holiday’s history, stretching as far as the Civil War, but with contested claims to the exact date and location of its modern, more generalized practice.

With any number of groups in contention for the first celebration of “Memorial Day,” rather than “Decoration Day,” the retired officer said the date marked a widely shared ideal.

“Memorial Day was born in the hearts of Americans,” he said. “It is the manifestation of the need we all have to honor, and recognize the supreme sacrifice that so many have placed on the altar of the nation and the people that they love. It is an expression of the common humanity that dwells in all of us and unites us, regardless of gender, race or politics.”

In the same speech, Peterson said Americans were “more divided than at any time in (his) lifetime,” and called on listeners to view the holiday as a rare source of harmony.

“Let us build on that common humanity,” he said. “To emphasize those things that we all hold in common, and remove from ourselves and our lives, the power of those things that divide us. The constant barrage we all endure from news media, social media, makes this a difficult task, but as with all difficult tasks, the hardest thing when solving the problem is just getting started.”

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Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com