Connect to the story in history on Memorial Day

   

The photo is of my great-uncle, Arthur Smith, greeting a child in Belgium during World War I. He returned home to farm his family's land in Western Pennsylvania.

Every year as Memorial Day approaches, someone writes a column about how shallow we are as a nation to be caught up in daydreaming about the hot dogs and burgers on the grill, the guest list for the picnic, or the opening of the swimming pool, especially when so many of our soldiers are in danger at war overseas. I won't argue with the criticism. The purpose of Memorial Day, after all, is to honor and remember those who have who died in the service of their country. And I've been as guilty as anyone. While I could be thinking of what and whom the day represents, my mind is more likely to be found wandering over to the potato salad. 

This year will be different. I've been focused on veterans a lot after writing about my dad and his World War II service, and I asked myself how I could better honor the day. It feels more important than it did before I wrote the book. War and the horror it brings can't really co-exist with the holiday mood, and a moment needs to be set aside to remember. In a way, Memorial Day is for the living, for the survivors — the Gold Star mother or father, the child, or husband or wife who is sadly left with only memories.

The best way for me to mark Memorial Day, I decided, was to take some time to talk to a World War II veteran, perhaps with my tape recorder or notepad at hand to record his or her stories. I'd be glad to talk to any veteran — I mention World War II because, as I've said before, time is running out. 

Jerry Waxler writes in his blog, Memory Writers Network, that we need to "get those stories while there is still time." Some of us, he says, may be secretly hesitant because our parent or grandparent has memory lapses and we don't want to embarrass them with questions impossible to answer. Waxler discovered an interesting fact about memory loss — that short term memory deteriorates before long term memory, so the distant past may be accessible although the person remembers little of what took place yesterday. 

You never know what you might learn in the interview. In my next blog, I'll be talking — and listening — to a World War II veteran. How about in your family —why don't you get out the video or tape recorder and see what stories they have to tell? As Rudyard Kipling said, "If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten."

And you can have fun doing it. It is a holiday weekend, time for family and picnics. As I talk with a friend who's a World War II veteran, I'm sure I'll find time to look for that potato salad.