Today Carol and I attended the Veteran's Day observance organized by our friend, Vince Dahmen, at St. Mark's Cemetery in Orange. In working on cleanup of this neglected cemetery, Vince discovered that there are 22 Civil War veterans buried there. On his own he organized this observation and asked for my help which I was happy to give. The program was very short, Gary Abrams, a re-enactor from the 33rd New Jersey fired his musket in salute, Carol and Vince read the names, I said a few words about New Jersey's history in the Civil War and read the Gettysburg address. It was a nice service and I hope that more can be done to properly restore the last resting places of these veterans.
This past Sunday, Elaine over at Random Jottings wrote a very moving post about Remembrance Sunday in England including national television coverage of the ceremony at the Centopath in London and the two minute silence. The timing of all this, of course, is tied into the Armistice that ended World War I which took effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I think the British have a good idea in having the observation on the closest Sunday to the 11th thereby giving it a whole lot more visibility.
I believe that I am correct that when the U.S moved a number of holidays that were set by date to the closest Monday, Veteran's Day was one of them, but veteran's groups protested so much that it was moved back to the 11th. I wonder, in retrospect if that was a good idea. It's a Federal Holiday so there is no mail and a lot of things are closed, but it feels like more things are open than closed. I was very disappointed to see that my former employer, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, did not close today.
There is a further dilution in this country because of the fact that we have two days tied into veterans - Memorial Day which is to honor those who died in wars and Veteran's Day to honor all who served. The fact that the British combine them in one day probably brings more focus to it. Memorial Day was originally Decoration Day - the day when people visited and decorated the graves of Civil War veterans. The focus on the date of the World War I armistice is probably tied into the fact that it was considered to be the end of "The War to End Wars." When that proved inaccurate the focus was switched to Veteran's Day. In terms of U.S. involvement World War II was much more significant, but scant attention is paid today to either VE or VJ days.
I find my own role as a veteran somewhat ironic. When I was a kid growing up in the late 1940's and 1950's, everyone's father was a veteran or so it seemed - the unusual cases were those who were not. When I went into the army in 1970, I was probably aware of being a minority, but after spending 20 months with peers all who were doing the same thing, I guess it seemed like the norm. Today in almost every group that I am in, I find myself to be the only veteran or one of the few - it is a strange feeling in some regard. Since most people don't have the experience, they tend to think mine was a lot worse than it was.
That's not to say that it wasn't difficult in some ways certainly in terms of stress. May 23, 1971 will always rank as the worse day of my life or at least so far - it was the day I left for Vietnam. I knew I didn't want my parents saying goodbye to me at the airport so I asked my friend Bill to drive me to Newark airport for the flight to California. It was a beautiful spring day and as Bill turned his car around and we passed my parent's house, I couldn't help of thinking of whether or not I would ever see it or my family again. If it was tough for me, it was worse for my mother who had to go through it twice, once sending her husband off to World War II and then sending me off to Vietnam.
After the ceremony today, there was a reception back at St. Mark's Church. Vince's wife, Mary Anne said grace before the food was served and broke down somewhat talking about the mother's who were sitting in the pews at St. Mark's when their sons went off to the Civil War - the ones who were ultimately buried at St. Mark's cemetery. We all need to connect to the veterans of the past on that kind of human level. After telling the story of the 33rd New Jersey as a regiment, I have realized that underneath that collective story are the stories of the individual soldiers who made up that regiment - something that is true of every Civil War regiment, indeed every military unit in every war. Reading those names out loud today in a small way honored each individual story - we need to continue to do that and more - "Lest we forget, lest we forget."
This past Sunday, Elaine over at Random Jottings wrote a very moving post about Remembrance Sunday in England including national television coverage of the ceremony at the Centopath in London and the two minute silence. The timing of all this, of course, is tied into the Armistice that ended World War I which took effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I think the British have a good idea in having the observation on the closest Sunday to the 11th thereby giving it a whole lot more visibility.
I believe that I am correct that when the U.S moved a number of holidays that were set by date to the closest Monday, Veteran's Day was one of them, but veteran's groups protested so much that it was moved back to the 11th. I wonder, in retrospect if that was a good idea. It's a Federal Holiday so there is no mail and a lot of things are closed, but it feels like more things are open than closed. I was very disappointed to see that my former employer, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, did not close today.
There is a further dilution in this country because of the fact that we have two days tied into veterans - Memorial Day which is to honor those who died in wars and Veteran's Day to honor all who served. The fact that the British combine them in one day probably brings more focus to it. Memorial Day was originally Decoration Day - the day when people visited and decorated the graves of Civil War veterans. The focus on the date of the World War I armistice is probably tied into the fact that it was considered to be the end of "The War to End Wars." When that proved inaccurate the focus was switched to Veteran's Day. In terms of U.S. involvement World War II was much more significant, but scant attention is paid today to either VE or VJ days.
I find my own role as a veteran somewhat ironic. When I was a kid growing up in the late 1940's and 1950's, everyone's father was a veteran or so it seemed - the unusual cases were those who were not. When I went into the army in 1970, I was probably aware of being a minority, but after spending 20 months with peers all who were doing the same thing, I guess it seemed like the norm. Today in almost every group that I am in, I find myself to be the only veteran or one of the few - it is a strange feeling in some regard. Since most people don't have the experience, they tend to think mine was a lot worse than it was.
That's not to say that it wasn't difficult in some ways certainly in terms of stress. May 23, 1971 will always rank as the worse day of my life or at least so far - it was the day I left for Vietnam. I knew I didn't want my parents saying goodbye to me at the airport so I asked my friend Bill to drive me to Newark airport for the flight to California. It was a beautiful spring day and as Bill turned his car around and we passed my parent's house, I couldn't help of thinking of whether or not I would ever see it or my family again. If it was tough for me, it was worse for my mother who had to go through it twice, once sending her husband off to World War II and then sending me off to Vietnam.
After the ceremony today, there was a reception back at St. Mark's Church. Vince's wife, Mary Anne said grace before the food was served and broke down somewhat talking about the mother's who were sitting in the pews at St. Mark's when their sons went off to the Civil War - the ones who were ultimately buried at St. Mark's cemetery. We all need to connect to the veterans of the past on that kind of human level. After telling the story of the 33rd New Jersey as a regiment, I have realized that underneath that collective story are the stories of the individual soldiers who made up that regiment - something that is true of every Civil War regiment, indeed every military unit in every war. Reading those names out loud today in a small way honored each individual story - we need to continue to do that and more - "Lest we forget, lest we forget."
1 comment:
John,
I had a comment that didn't make it to you.
Thank you for this Blog. I totally agree with your comment about our former employer NOT continuing the tradition of Honoring our Vets.
This past Sunday, my church did our 3rd Annual Day of Rememberance while reading the 5,466 names of those women and men who gave their lives for us. The sad part that there we 3 or 4 folks that spent 1/2 hour or 45 minutes, early in the service (started at 12noon), and 4 others who were there for the duration reading those names. We finished at 4:30. Of the 4 folk that were there for the duration, 3 were Veterans and the 4th was the spouse of one of the Vets, but she had 2 sisters who served in WWII.
Yes, you could say the Vets (and spouse) know why we were there. 2 of the 3 served in Vietnam (before you were there).
I get the feeling that, somethings, our Church is moving too fast to do 'stuff' then to take a little time to remember those who gave their lives so that we could do the 'stuff' that we do.
I just purchased your book. Thank you.
I've got some NJ research to do, and have been wanting to get back down to Newark to visit the NJHS building.
Thanks again,
Russ
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