A memorable Memorial Day (observed)

A very clear memory I have of my boyhood in Boise is how Memorial Day, which then was always 30 May and a school holiday, we Grahams would go out to Cloverdale Cemetery and decorate the grave of Grandpa Graham. Funny, that an annual Memorial Day visit to a cemetery would form such a strong and pleasant memory. I suppose this was so because it was always a peaceful day and a peaceful place, and the visit was routine.

It was only well into my adulthood that I learned that Memorial Day's purpose was more specific than simply honoring all the dear departed, but rather was for honoring those who had died in combat service to their country.

Monday morning I attended the ceremony at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. It was my third Memorial Day visit in my five and a half years of living here. Of the three this A.D. 2007 ceremony was definitely the best! I heard terrific singing by the Alamo Metro Chorus, aka Sweet Adelines, who include Alamo Heights Christian Church's choir director and another choir member. Then I listened to a very inspired and inspiring message by recently-retired General Ricardo Sanchez! He was commander of forces in Iraq at the time of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and unfairly took some of the blame for it. So he never got the fourth star on his shoulder (he'd have been the first Hispanic four-star general) that he so truly deserved!

Anyhow, Gen. Sanchez began by saying that he had been requested to speak at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, on Memorial Day two years earlier. One night just prior, he awoke, got up, sat down and wrote what he was about to share with us. His creation was a prose-poem, "When a Soldier Cries". I found it to be a wonderful expression of the the feelings of the average soldier who faces combat. Truly the General's words were very expressive and heart-touching!

So, after the ceremony adjourned I went up and congratulated him on it, expressed my admiration and my conviction that he should have received that fourth star, and saluted him. Then I visited the graves of Gen. Robert F. McDermott (retired head of the US Air Force Academy and of USAA) and CMH earner José López and paid my respects to these exemplary men who died just last year.

In this way I observed Memorial Day as it was intended to be observed. But I admit that I also celebrated the holiday as so many Americans do exclusively any more, by having outdoor fun. In my case, I went in mid-afternoon to Six Flags Fiesta Texas (surprise! they gave me the day off!) and enjoyed the park for a few hours. I rode the train, of course (more than once), and also Roadrunner Express and the Boomerang. Best of all, I watched four music shows, including both "new" country shows and another new one called "Encore! One-hit Wonders". Odd name, that last, since if the artist had merely one hit, he, she or they didn't have and "encore" hit!

The newly-revised traditional country music show, "Down Home Country", is FANTASTIC! It features a series of hits by well-known women in country music (Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline) and a salute to old-time gospel standards (including one of my very favorites, "Unclouded Day"). And naturally, an early hit released by our next-door neighbor, golden-voiced George Strait!