Memorial Day

The following are my Memorial Day remarks for 2009. I join many others in remembrance of those who have fallen in service to this country. Thank you for your service.

Thank you for holding this ceremony. It is important that we gather here in thanks to those who have given themselves for their country. Many communities do not commemorate the day with as many ceremonies at their schools or town halls as we do here. We continue to do so and that says a lot about the character of our community. Thank you. Once again we are met on a Memorial Day, celebrating and commemorating those who gave their lives for this country and for their fellow man. We have been doing this for about 150 years, since a local druggist, a Mr. Welles, suggested after the Civil War that we honor those who fell in that war. That idea was picked up by Gen Murray, a patriot who had fought with distinction in the Civil War. He and Welles formed a committee and that first year they brought their Memorial Day ceremonies to three cemeteries locally. The next year they did the same thing and that is how this got started. It was originally called Decoration Day because that was how they commemorated the day, by decorating the graves of the fallen soldiers. That was 1865. In 1868, it was made an official day of commemoration, but it wasn’t until 1971 that the last Monday in May was designated as Memorial Day. The first President to speak at a national Memorial Day ceremony was James Garfield in 1880. His notable words capture the true spirit of why we set aside this day of remembrance: He said of our veterans, ”We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country, they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and virtue.”

I’d like to take Garfield’s stirring words one-step further. I’d like to believe the men and women we honor today immortalized more than their patriotism. They immortalized the principle that freedom is essential to the human condition. So vital is freedom that men and women die to preserve it – not only for themselves, but also for others.
Since that day in 1865, two things have remained consistent. Memorial Day ceremonies have been kept every year, and young men and women have given their lives for their country and to ensure our safety. It is not only fitting that we continue to observe this day, it is our duty as Americans to honor these fallen patriots. We honor their service, remind ourselves of the lessons taken from them, lessons on patriotism, service, lessons that teach us that great ideals such as democracy and freedom don’t simply happen, but come at a great cost, and rededicate ourselves to those same ideals that these heroes died for.
Stephen Ambrose said of WWII, we paid dearly in human lives, but he said that we didn’t tire of war or our responsibility, because determination outweighed that price. Determination, loyalty, patriotism…it doesn’t matter what you call it, it is the selflessness of young men and women who are called to duty and they sacrifice their safety and ultimately, their lives for their friends, family and even for people they have never met. They do so because they respond to the call of duty. They do so because they know that if they do not, then we lose something far greater, the democracy and the example of human rights and freedoms that is America.
And they must also realize that this service continues today; in Afghanistan, Iraq, patrolling the waters in East Africa, and so many other places where our troops put themselves in harm’s way to defend the ideals of our country. And that is the message that we must keep to pass along to each generation. In all of these cases, men and women served this country not because of an immediate threat to their families and homes, but to serve the ideals and principles of this country. They held dearly to the beliefs set forth by the Declaration of Independence. They are simple yet powerful; We hold these truths to be self evident, that all people are endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are not just words to us, but the ideals for which men and women have unquestioningly, time and again, put themselves in harm’s way defending. And continue to do so today. As we adjourn our sessions in the State House, we have a moment of silence and adjourn in memory of any soldier that is killed in duty to their country. It still happens today and we still adjourn in honor of our fallen comrades and fellow citizens. None of these brave men and women planned to give their lives that day, but they knew the risks of military service and they risked their lives daily in the cause of a free nation.

At our best, we should pay homage to our nation’s dead all year round. But we don’t. One of the amazing things about living in a free land is that we don’t have to think each day about our freedoms. We can take for granted freedom of speech, assembly, worship and all the others that people have fought so hard to give to us. We can take them for granted because that is what freedom is; it is the ability to do what we can without fear that someone will take it away from us. But we, here today know, that the price of this freedom has been the blood of our men and women; those who gave the ultimate sacrifice of laying down their lives, those who sacrificed and came home wounded in body, mind, and spirit, and those who sacrificed by staying at home and waiting for their loved ones to return.
And we know that there will always be a need to be vigilant in this world. We need to make sure that in taking these freedoms for granted, we do not lose that sense of how dear freedom is, or how costly, and; as my grandfather, who came to this country and became a citizen because of the love for is adopted land, taught me years ago, we must not forget those who made and kept this nation as a beacon of freedom and hope to the rest of the world.
We must always remember what unites us as one America, and recognize that the mortar holding our society together is mixed with the blood and tears of those who fought and died in battle. Over one million and a quarter men and women have breathed their last while serving our country. We can never repay them and their families for this sacrifice, but we can honor their actions with our remembrance.

Let us hold up the example of their courage for all to see.
Let us carry the message of their sacrifice to the generations to come.
And let us never forget the price that they paid to ensure that this remains the greatest country in the history of this planet.

The brave men and women who gave their lives for our country deserve our remembrance and they have handed off to us that awesome responsibility to take up the service that they gave their lives for and pass it forth to a new generation. It is now up to us to be the heroes and the people who preserve those ideals and rights that they died for. Hopefully, someday we will not send people into battle to defend these inalienable rights. Hopefully someday we can live in peace. But that will only happen if we rededicate ourselves to our nation and to the lessons and ideals that these people gave of themselves to defend. That is why we meet each year, to remember their sacrifice and to thank them for that selfless sacrifice. We meet to remember that we must stay vigilant and become the next generation to advance these principles. And we meet to celebrate that great experiment in democracy that is called America.

As long as we continue to meet and commemorate their lives, then their lives continue to hold meaning and continue to inspire us to carry on the ideals of freedom and democracy. They continue to live in our hearts and minds and continue their service to our country. Again, thank you for holding this ceremony and God Bless America.