Today, after finishing this piece, I will walk to Swiss Cottage station, take the Jubilee line to Bond Street, and transfer to the Central line. I will emerge from London’s labyrinthine underground network under the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Inside, I will head to the eastern end and find the American Memorial Chapel. This corner of the cathedral, destroyed during the blitz in World War II, was rebuilt to commemorate the Americans who died in the conflict.
This will be my place of reflection, to mark this day. Memorial Day is both a national day of commemoration and an intensely personal one. Each of us experiences Memorial Day differently, but it is the day we set aside as a nation to take a few moments to remember.
Specific memories, always present but more vivid on Memorial Day, come to mind. I recall the moment I heard the news of the first person in my Officer Candidate School platoon killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. I remember the "hero flights" that carried fallen servicemembers on the first leg of their journey home. I think of the bracelets we wore, each inscribed with the name of a friend gone too soon, and how few wrists were unadorned as the years of war went on.
These are my memories. Many of us have our own, whether from today's wars or those of the past. They may be poignant or fleeting, featuring friends, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, neighbors, or even someone we’ve only read about. What matters is that today, we carry those memories forward.
.jpg)
Just as each American experiences Memorial Day uniquely, we each mark it in our own way. I’ve attended a memorial service in a chapel on a small base in Baghdad, watched a sunset over the dusty plains of Helmand province from atop a bunker, visited Arlington National Cemetery, and this year, I will visit a small memorial chapel in central London. Much has changed since I stopped wearing ACUs, but marking this day is something that never will.
Our calendar is filled with holidays defined by iconic items. Christmas has its trees, Thanksgiving has turkey, Easter has eggs and a rabbit. Memorial Day, however, is a blank canvas, for us to commemorate in whatever way we see fit. Veterans might share stories about their comrades with family, friends might exchange emails recalling memories of lost loved ones, some will visit cemeteries, others will spend time alone, and still, others will take a moment amid a happy day with family or friends to remember the significance of today. It doesn’t matter how we do it; what’s important is that we do it.
We don’t say “Happy Memorial Day”—it doesn’t sound right. So instead, on behalf of War on the Rocks, I hope your weekend has been an enjoyable one, and that you find a moment today to mark this day in your own way. If it feels right to you, it’s the right way.
John Amble is the editorial director of the Modern War Institute at West Point, a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, and a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He is the former managing editor of War on the Rocks.
0 Comments