A Memorial Day observation

Perhaps the torch is being passed.

For the last eight years I have taken time out to attend Wicomico County’s Memorial Day service held at the Youth and Civic Center. Each occasion has several things in common, with the most striking being that it’s always warm and muggy on Memorial Day around here.

If you want to have a blow-by-blow of how the ceremony is conducted, you can go to my 2009 Memorial Day post. Over the last couple years I had backed up the post with a second event, the Concert for a Random Soldier; alas, I didn’t make it there this year. But the Wicomico County event maintains the same schedule and rhythm year after year, so there wasn’t much point in telling the same story over again.

I didn’t take as many pictures this year because I was more interested in making some points with the ones I took.

I’ll begin with this one, which is the group who recited each service prayer.

The gentleman speaking at the podium is Ed Tattersall, who annually recites the name of the 188 from Wicomico County who have fallen in battle since World War I. Fortunately, that number hasn’t budged in a couple years.

But the reason I added the picture was to illustrate the graying nature of the participants. Although there are a few younger veterans in the picture, most of these men and women have done this ceremony a number of times.

We did get a new bell ringer last year, as the old veteran who used to do this could no longer do so.

The bagpipe player, Matthew Wallace, has also been in several of these, but I have no idea how he can stand the heat in that outfit. In fact, one concession to the heat and humidity is that the JROTC members no longer have to stand at attention at their flagpoles throughout the event, which customarily lasts about 40 minutes. We’ve had a few pass out over the years so now they get a break.

Slowly but surely, these young JROTC cadets are being joined by veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

This is what his shirt says.

It brings up another point. I have no idea what the racial makeup is of those who were killed in battle from our county; however, something tells me that the proportion of minority veterans today is larger than their percentage of the general population, mainly due to economic circumstance. It will be interesting to see how the makeup of those attending this ceremony will change in future years as veterans who served four to six decades ago pass from the scene and those who served from Operation Desert Shield on take their place.

As always, there was a modest gathering on hand; perhaps more than some would expect given this day and age of disrespect to the mission, if not those carrying it out.

With combat operations winding down in the Middle East, the chances of another name being added to the list diminish – but it’s still possible. We still live in a dangerous world and no one knows just where the next hotspot could be. I don’t think many of those who served would wish their experiences onto anyone else, but it’s up to all of us to remember that freedom isn’t free and should never be taken for granted.