“Ceremonies are important. But our gratitude has to be more than visits to the troops, and once-a-year Memorial Day ceremonies. We honor the dead best by treating the living well.” Jennifer M. Granholm
I was going to write about how we honor our 1,237,000 war dead on Memorial Day and often forget our incapacitated Veterans. By incapacitated, I mean those Veterans who were sent into the meat grinder and came out alive but were trashed, either physically, emotionally, or mentally – or all three – by the experience. The problem, as I see it, is that we honor our war dead much more than we honor our Veterans who are still alive.
Here are a couple of numbers that bother me. Of our 1,237,000 war dead, 7,057 were killed in the so-called War on Terror, and 30,177 came home from their tour of duty and ended up committing suicide. We honor the 7,057 and pretty much ignore the 30,177. Another disturbing number is that 70% of the homeless people in California are Veterans. Seventy percent!
I’ve been writing and rewriting this for several days, getting nowhere, so I’m just going to skip to the bottom line. An excellent way to celebrate Memorial Day is to forget the dead Veterans and support the alive but damaged vets. Here are some ideas: Wounded Warrior Project, the USO, Paralyzed Veterans, and Hope for the Warriors.
I totally agree.
Without wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Karen, maybe we will have fewer people destroyed in the next ten years.
I attended the Memorial Day ceremony at the Presidio where the men and women who died by suicide and/or from cancers or illnesses caused by Agent Orange, burn pits, and other vagaries were spoken of and honored.
And yet as you write, we do need to care for those who’ve been through the meat grinders of war and survived, at least physically.
It was odd to hear military men ( no military women spoke) speak about the wish peace since I think many want to make war. I wish for peace and especially for those walking wounded.
I’m so glad to hear the military is doing this. I have friends who were destroyed by things they did- and things that were done to them- by their service particularly in Vietnam. That’s mostly a factor of my age. I don’t think war has gotten any nicer.
Hi Laura, I wish I had known, maybe I’ll join you next year. Almost universally, people who have been in wars, hate war. The one quote on Grant’s Tomb is “Let there be peace.”