NYC Letter: Memorial Day 2009

Day 125 of CHOPE

TAPS
Safely Rest, God Is Nigh
[Photo source: U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Bradley Church]

Today is Memorial Day. Formerly called Decoration Day, it was established after the Civil War to honor the fallen among the Union Army. After WWI it was enlarged to include the dead of any war or military action. Originally Memorial Day was a fixed holiday observed on May 30, a date chosen because it was not associated with any battle. On June 28, 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, moving Memorial Day to the last Monday of May to create a wrap-around holiday weekend.

There are several traditional observances.

• Visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of the military

• Visiting military memorials

• Flying the flag at half-staff until noon

Traditionally politicians use Memorial Day to speechify, grabbing a free ride on the backs of the dead. Of course, it helps to know what holiday you are speaking about. For the second year in a row, Mr. Obama confuses the purposes of Memorial Day -- to remember and honor the military dead -- conflating it with Veterans Day and Armed Forces Day. Here he is last year in Las Cruces, New Mexico:

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

Like in The Sixth Sense. Mr. Obama went on to deplore untreated post-traumatic stress disorder among returning veterans and sexual harrassment of women generally in the military.

This year the White House Web site introduces Mr. Obama's weekly address thusly:

On this Memorial Day weekend, President Obama calls on the American people to join him in paying tribute to America’s veterans, servicemen and women – particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice - and their families.

Mr. Obama, as advertised, addressed the living:

Our fighting men and women - and the military families who love them - embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us. And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We have failed to give them the support they need or pay them the respect they deserve. That is a betrayal of the sacred trust that America has with all who wear - and all who have worn - the proud uniform of our country.

The most recent failure comes from Mr. Obama's own Department of Homeland Security. And then there are these goms. And these thugs. And this opportuning headline-whore. And then there is Mr. Obama himself.

[Hat tip: Michel Malkin]

The White House has its very own Commission on Remembrance. Mr. Obama might want to drop by and catch a clue.

No CHOPE today. Remembrance and thanks.