I was going on about Armed Forces Day just last week, and wouldn’t you know it, Memorial Day is already upon us. Well, on Monday.
We have a handful of days set aside each year to recognize our military in one way or another, but Memorial Day is reserved for honoring fallen American servicemen and servicewomen.
With that in mind, indulge me for a minute for an account of a fighter pilot I knew years ago whose plane was shot down over Vietnam. He was a First Lieutenant in the Iowa Air National Guard and one of our F-100 pilots in the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing. In real life, he flew for United Airlines before his unit was called up and assigned to an Air Force base in the Central Highlands where I worked in Intel.
With red hair, handlebar mustache, and a bon vivant spirit, he was the epitome of a hot-shot combat pilot, even to the point of often sporting a white silk scarf in a nostalgic nod to World War I biplane pilots.
He was one of those who volunteered to fly the risky Misty missions under the legendary BAT tail designation. The “Misties” were a gregarious lot, undaunted and dedicated, and more than half the time ended up in hairy situations – to use the vernacular of the day.
I realize we’re getting into some military terminology here, so I apologize for the lingo.
The F-100 Misties were used as Forward Air Controllers, known as Fast FACs. Their job was to fly low and fast to mark targets—SAMs, AAA sites, trucks, bridges, boats, bulldozers, and so on—for the Air Force and Navy jet bombers. Although they flew fast—up to 450 mph—it’s said that one in five Misty pilots ended up being shot down.
My friend was one of those. In fact, I learned he was the very first Misty pilot to be shot down. From the reports we got back from the field, his plane was hit by ground fire and exploded in mid-air during a mission over an out-of-the-way place called the A Shau Valley, where the Hamburger Hill battle was taking place. Like I said, hairy situations.
He was only one of the over 58,000 Americans we lost over there, and I remember him and others every Memorial Day.
Indeed, we observe Memorial Day by closing the post office, banks, and sundry government places, giving their staff time to spend with their family and maybe have a cookout or just being together, but it’s more than that.
Although the press likes to refer to Memorial Day as the unofficial first day of summer, the day before the pool opens and whatnot, it’s important to keep in mind what it’s really all about.
For most of our nation’s history, Memorial Day was always observed on May 30, but in 1968, something called the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed, which dictated that Memorial Day would occur on the last Monday of May. Then, in 1971, the anniversary officially became a federal holiday.
I’ve met some veterans who wonder if the three-day weekend undermines the reason for Memorial Day and makes people blasé about observing it on the last day of their long weekend. In other words, if Memorial Day remained on May 30 and fell on a Tuesday, Friday, or any other day—as, say, Christmas or Independence Day do—it might be thought of as a little more significant.
Moving on, the whole idea for setting aside this one day out of the year goes way back to post-Civil War times when it was first referred to as Decoration Day, the day to put flowers on their graves and give people the day off to do so.
It just occurred to me that not unlike Memorial Day, a lot of our holidays hinge around turning points, beginnings or endings.
In the “beginnings” column, our holidays range from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the birth of Jesus. For “endings,” we have…uh…well, off the top of my head, there’s VE Day and VJ Day. Those are the days marking the end of the conflicts in the European and Pacific theaters of war, and you would not be out of line to display the flag on both those days, especially when you remember that we lost over 400,000 fighting in WW2.
Throw in all the other wars, conflicts, and police actions, however you want to label them, and that brings us back to Memorial Day.
Call me old-fashioned, but reserving a few minutes out of the day to attend the ceremonies in Socorro or Magdalena to pay tribute to those in the armed forces who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in combat in the name of freedom is the least you can do.
And yes, chowing down on a hot dog and burger is absolutely permitted.
