COMMENTARY >> Take time on Memorial Day

By Lt. Col. Phil Everitte
714th Training Squadron commander

Take time this weekend to reflect on the real reason we have Memorial Day, it is not just another federal holiday aimed at allowing us a three day weekend to kick off the summer.

Memorial Day, also called Decoration Day for the tradition of decorating soldiers’ graves with flowers, has been around since just after the Civil War. It was proclaimed as a day to honor those on both the Union and Confederate sides who had lost their lives in the war.

While the holiday was not popular across the entire country for many years due to the ill feelings between the North and South after the Civil War, it became much more endeared as we began to honor the sacrifices made by servicemembers in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, South West Asia and everything in between.

These were real sacrifices of our brothers and sisters in arms, hundreds of thousands of men and women who came before us and paid the ultimate price in the name of freedom and everything we believe; leaving behind mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, sons and daughters.

Most of these heroes did this during the prime of their lives in situations you and I can’t even imagine. While I am sure they did not ‘want’ to give their lives – they fought and won the wars, battles and conflicts that allowed our nation to persevere through the darkest hours of our age and ensured our freedom.

So while you are out at your Memorial Day cookout or enjoying time at the lake, I encourage you and your family to take a moment and remember those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who gave all so that you and I could have so much.