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Farideh Ghane grieves at the grave of her son Alexander Ghane after a Memorial Day ceremony at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City May 30, 2011. Alexander Ghane, a graduate of Sierra Vista High School and a Navy Seal, was killed during training exercise in 2008.
Monday, May 28, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Mike O'Callaghan, Governer of Nevada from 1970-1978, and an editor at the Las Vegas Sun.
There are few people who could write about Memorial Day like the late Mike O’Callaghan. The former two-term governor of Nevada and executive editor of the Sun served in the Marines, the Air Force and the Army and was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. The following is from a column first published in 2000:
All Americans should have memories that are enriched every time Memorial Day comes around. This shouldn’t be just another day we don’t have to work or go to school. During the first six years of my life, we had a farm near the small river town of Dakota, Minn. This was the day for decorating the graves of the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I veterans. It was also the day for eating homemade ice cream, cake, lemonade, potato salad, hamburgers and hot dogs, sitting on the grass beneath trees.
In addition to playing and eating, we found time to hear the folks talk about the people in the nearby graves. My father, a World War I vet, and his friends would be talking about their experiences. A special place was always reserved for the town’s three remaining Civil War veterans, who were also my friends.
The Civil War stories of Oliver Tibbetts, who lived above a granary, were my favorites. During the school year, I would climb up the stairs to his room and look at his uniform and encourage him to tell me about Gettysburg, President Lincoln and his experiences as a soldier. He referred to his soldiering as being a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. All the graves of Civil War veterans had headstones with G.A.R. carved into them.
Oliver Tibbetts instilled in me a continuing interest in the men who fought the Civil War. Later in life, I found a professor who also had a deep love and understanding of what happened during that divisive conflict. The late Dr. John Wright of UNLV not only provided enriching classroom experiences, but spent many additional hours discussing the Civil War and Reconstruction with me.
Those years living near Dakota were less than 18 years after World War I ended. Discussions of that war were often dinner subjects or on the front porch where the family visited during evening hours. The discussions about our nation’s refusal to pay the veterans a promised bonus were sometimes heated. Always there was some reference to the friends who didn’t return from what was called the Great War.
What meaning does Memorial Day have for the school children of today? Some of them tell us that World War I and the Korean War are skipped over in many classrooms with little meaningful discussion. ...
Wars don’t happen in a vacuum and have causes and results that color the conduct of people for many generations. When studied and learned about, they provide a rich history for us to use in making decisions for the present and future.
I treasure the history learned as a youngster from the veterans of past wars. These experiences gave me the thirst for additional knowledge and an appreciation for Memorial Day and the people we honor on this day. ...
This is a day to show our appreciation for those who have given their all and relate how their accomplishments have made ours a great nation.
Desecrating A Veterans Most Holy Day
It was approximately 1:15AM, Monday morning, "Memorial Day". Sitting in a chair, in deep thought, thinking of my old Marine Corps friend, Lance Corporal Jackson of many moons ago who lost his life in the line of duty. In a night operation somewhere near or at the Suez Canal his Force Recon team deployed out on a mission. Lance Corporal Jackson was to never return.
Then suddenly, in our usually quiet neighborhood, I hear an array of police sirens. The sound of these alerts seemingly gets closer to my residence. Moments later, I see the flashing lights from a group of police cruisers. They have my street blocked off. I have no idea what the police are looking for, but one thing is for sure, it can't be good. Peeking out to the street through the blinds of my bedroom window, I see that my neighbor's wall has been dishonored with fresh profane type graffiti. My heart just sinks. He is a retired veteran himself. I know him to be a man who worships fallen soldiers on this day just as I do.
My dogs are barking in a manner that tells me somebody is close to my fenced off property line that shouldn't be there. I loaded my weapon of choice to maximum capacity. I keep a watchful eye for any type of non-uniformed human movement. I just can't believe, at this moment, on this day, I'm in this mode of prepared offensive actions in defense of my sanctuary.
After about an hour, the police presence disappears. I decided I could stand down, myself. But, my most holy day has been destroyed. I walked out my front door, got a closer look at the graffiti on my neighbors wall. I thought, "Nothing like having to spend his most holy day repainting over graffiti that totally disrespects and desecrates his sanctuary."
My thoughts went back to Marine Lance Corporal Jackson. When reveille was sounded at 5:30AM aboard the U.S. Naval warship I was stationed on, as usual, I went over to the Force Recon living area to grab Lance Corporal Jackson, as usual, to go to breakfast. However, on this morning, the other Recon Marines were silent, seemingly depressed. I asked where Lance Corporal Jackson was. This is when I got the news. During their short nighttime jump into the ocean waters from a Marine Corps "Huey" helicopter, Lance Corporal Jackson never surfaced. His body was never found. His cause of death was never established. Nothing, not even a trace of evidence was discovered.
There were no medals awarded to Lance Corporal Jackson. There were no ceremonies on his behalf. All that remained were his family and Marine brothers who on this day, even after all these years have passed, still grieve the loss of this wonderful and most dedicated United States Marine.
HOW DARE the thugs of this community taint and interrupt such a sacred time!!!
Comment removed by moderator. Personal Attack
When I was a very young child, my family used to go to my Grandma Petersen's old folks home to help her out. There, in my youth, I became acquainted with the tragedies of war by the aging and fragile Veterans who occupied this home. Over a lifetime, their stories become more present, as we continue to see how our American society, that they defended and fought for, some giving the ultimate sacrifice, in HOW we remember and honor them.
For me, Memorial Day is a time of remembrance and mourning, and I can never live through this particular time without experiencing great grief and sorrow. Somebody's son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, family member, or friend, is gone forever. Somehow, I just can't bring myself to celebrate with BBQs or irrelevant events. There have been too many lost, in my life, as well as many others. All that is left are "memories".
May we never forget nor be disrespectful of those who have served our country and for the sake of world peace. I pray these benevolent souls great reward for their selfless sacrifice our own and the future's behalves.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
Hey Mr. Moderator, that was clearly no personal attack, that was sarcasm and an observation on the meaning of solemn holidays to the vast majority of Americans
Thank you all that severed our great country so that I could enjoy the freedoms and life that I do today.
Our thoughts are with each and everyone of you.
Pat Hayes; I was in no way offended by your comments about me. I can't expect others to feel the same as I do when this day rolls around each year. I completely understood and respected what you were saying.
Even though the personal assessment of me was not meant to be disrespectful in any form, those comments you made were true. I've done my absolute best over the years to let my deep feeling go about my fallen friends and comrades from those years in the Marines. However, on holidays such as this, I am consumed with these memories, and nothing is ever going to change that.
BChap...and nothing should change that. I was fortunate to grow up in France and England post WW2 [1947-1958]. The sacrifice of their military and civilians is much closer to home. I recall the ceremonies at the Normandy beaches, at Verdun, at Chateau Thierry, at Biggin Hill and Lakenheath honoring those folks.
When I compare our American observation of solemn remembrances I am frankly disgusted. Memorial Day should not be a celebration of gratuitous consumption, yet that is what is has become.
This has always been a special day for me since 1964. Now it is a day that I celebrate that my name is not on "the Wall" and remember the names that I know are there.
Cheers
I had several relatives I never met. I remember my grandmother's pain when I asked (I was maybe 10) if she had any siblings. She had but never spoke of her brother, kept his uniform for years. He and others were turned into hamburger on Normandy on D-Day. My father was a veteran of Korea. Me of Viet Nam. My first husband died from Nam wounds, eventually. So ignore my insistence that illegal invaders are NOT welcome here. They must earn citizenship and not by entering illegally.
Dear Pat Hayes; yes America could stand to learn traditions that countries in Europe, such as France, dedicates to fallen soldiers of WWII.
I have to assume that many younger Americans do not know that in France, there are fields upon fields of fallen soldiers from not only France, but from of all of the allied forces from WWII. It is tradition in France, that people on their own go to these fields and care for all the burial sites of the fallen soldiers. These cemeteries are extremely well cared for. In my eyes, this says a lot about the French people.
America has suffered greatly in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor and 911 attacks. However, we have yet to experience the horrors of being an occupied nation. An exceptional book that details these terrors from a personal perspective is "The Diary of Anne Frank".
Sometimes history lectures and books leave out some of our greatest heroes. As an example, there was the "Norwegian Secret Army" during WWII. They played a central role in ending the Nazi's efforts to produce an atomic bomb. This secret army known as Milorg destroyed Germany's "heavy water factory" and sunk a German ferry boat that was transporting this same heavy water needed to complete the manufacture of an atomic bomb. What would the world have turned into without these Norwegian heroes?
Thank you for your commentary Pat. I have greatly appreciated your take on this solemn, but proud day.
For those of us that served and remember, Memorial Day is EVERY DAY! "Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know!" ~ Unknown