A Memorial Day Letter: George Hill Sr.
I share with you a letter written by George V. Hill Sr. and
shared by his son. I appreciate his idea of Memorial Day being not a
celebration but a solemn remembrance. Solemn remembrance is something we are
forgetting how to do in our culture. Even funerals these days have to be "celebrations
of life" as though grief has no place even there; but I digress. Perhaps
we'll discuss that another time.
For now, I leave you to read the following letter and if you
do nothing else today, please, REMEMBER.
Here is a letter my father wrote about Memorial Day and
those who died serving this great country. My dad served and never forgot those
many heroes.
His name: George V. Hill Sr.
He died in 2007 just seven months after he wrote this:
"On Monday, we celebrate Memorial Day, formerly known
as Decoration Day.
To my mind, this is not a day of celebration, but a day of
solemn remembrances of those who made the supreme sacrifice in the name of
freedom. It seems to me that Memorial Day has lost much of its meaning while we
talk about department store shopping sprees, visits to the mall and outdoor
picnics, all of course fitting and proper for any Saturday afternoon day of
fun, but not for Memorial Day.
Memorial Day is a day to hang out our flag, and to hear
speeches honoring our brave soldiers from all wars from Valley Forge to
Gettysburg to D-Day and Corregidor, Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East.
True Americans have always answered the call of duty, and as
they say, we fight for Mom, the flag, and apple pie. In other words, for
freedom and a way of life we all cherish and love.
I think of the brave airmen who flew the war-torn skies over
Europe in their mighty bombers, risking everything to keep America free, many
of them never returning, some under crosses in faraway lands.
If these and other brave men and women who fought could
speak from their graves, they might say to us today: 'Enjoy the day, but please
remember us; after all, it truly is our day.'"
The late George V. Hill Sr.
Submitted by his son,
George Vreeland Hill, Beverly Hills, California, formerly of
Corpus Christi