Memorial Day 2011

For the last four months I have been here in the Longview/Kelso area, I have
been struggling to be disciplined with my time. I have a long list of things to be
done, but I don't seem to be able to manage the use of my time very well. I have
found that a Sabbath rest every seven days injects a sense of God's perspective
into my life. Last Monday, Memorial Day, I took a second Sabbath in order to re-
ceive a double portion of God's perspective. In my early teens I developed a ritu-
al every Memorial Day of reading in the local newspaper a long list of the names
of men and women from the area who died in four major US wars in the 20th
century. Last Monday, Memorial Day 2011, I did what I had not done since I
was a teen: I slowly read through the long list of area war dead published in the
The Daily News. I did not know where it would take me, I just knew that I had
to do it.

I did as I used to do long ago: I began with the list of 43 men killed in Vietnam,
almost all of whom died in the second half of the 1960s, but a few in the early
1970s. When they died, most of them were kids just a few years older than me.
Besides those killed by hostile fire, there were a few killed by friendly fire. There
were two who are still MIA (missing in action). During my high school years, I
followed the war closely. Some of the names of the places where they fell were
still familiar to me: Pleiku, Kontum, Tay Ninh, Bien Hoa, Quang Tri. I remem-
ber reading about the young men when their death notices were published in The 
Daily News. I did as I did way back then, I read their names and remembered
them.

I used to go from the Vietnam War to the Second World War, and so I did that
last Monday. The list of war dead from the area is staggering, so much so that I
still feel overwhelmed by the losses. There were submariners, pilots, foot soldiers,
sailors, mapmakers, airmen, bombardiers, POWs, nurses, and more. They died all
over the world: Belgium, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Britain, North Africa,
India, Burma, the Aleutian Islands, islands and coral atolls in the Pacific,  Correg-
idor, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Luzon, Normandy, and in the air over France
and Germany. Nine local men were lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor, four from
the USS Oklahoma and three from the USS Arizona. At least four area men who
were POWs were killed when US war planes sank the Japanese ships on which
they were being transported to Japan and a few were killed when their ships
were attacked by kamikaze planes.  Others were on submarines lost at sea or on
planes that never returned from their missions. One was killed in an auto accident
and several in training accidents. One soldier died of food poisoning and another
from a heart attack. The Army, Navy, and Army Air Corps have long lists of
local personnel who lost their lives in World War II.

I also read the names of those lost in the Korean War and the First World War.
The list for the Korean War is the shortest of the four US wars and there was
no town of Longview until five years after the end of the First World War. Still,
the list for the latter conflict is a long list. I feel it is important to recognize each
name and to remember them. But a lot has changed since I read those lists over
40 years ago. My father passed away June 30, 1979, and my mother on Septem-
ber 30, 2001. So this Memorial Day I went out to the cemetery where they are at
rest and I remembered them and honored them. Near them are the graves of my
Uncle Ole and Aunt Mave, and I remembered and honored them as well. I get
emotional when I am so close to them in terms of space, but so far apart from
them in time and physical relationship. Then I started thinking about my other
uncles, aunts, cousins, and a long list of friends I have known throughout my life,
all of whom are no longer alive. I remember them all.

Blessings to you and yours,