A DAY TO REMEMBER

 I sometimes forget but there is always something to call them to mind. I thought about this last night when I was thinking about something else. There are memorials all over this country like this one that I ran into today just outside the Orthodox Church where they hold an annual Greek Festival in Tremont.

We honor their memory and we're also glad our names aren't up on a monument beside the names of others we fought alongside. I was fairly lucky that way and after my first visit to Little Creek I made a point of mentioning to the Almighty that I didn't need or want any buildings or bridges named after me and perhaps it would be best if I just never climbed into any gun turrets.

But that's not what I thought about last night. No, I remember how peeved we were back when I was still young and living with my parents in our house in Newport, Rhode Island where, after a year spent as a student at the War College, they asked him to stay another year and teach. It was a rarity I suppose to find in an Army Lieutenant Colonel a fanatical sailor who came alive with victory madness when sailing out on Narragansett Bay in Rhodes 19s or his favorite Shields. They found the right man. But my sister and brother and I were all a little ticked there during the summer that we had to share our floor and our bathroom with a lady who seemed to take 3 showers a day and who entirely covered the available counters with an enormous barrage of cosmetics.

It wasn't until many years later that my mother told me that she was widow of one of the last officers killed in Vietnam. The year was 1974 and she was a young widow with even younger children who was hoping to find a husband among the students at the War College. She was there for one particular officer and it is fascinating in hindsight to see how her circle of friends all stood by her.

I hope that things like that have not changed or fallen by the wayside. I hope that everyone had a memorable Memorial Day and was able to spend some time with family and friends and spare a moment or two to remember the ones that didn't come home.