…And So We Honor Those Who Fought

My father in his WWII Army Air Corps jacket.

Monday was Memorial Day. When I asked my most conservative friend, a self-proclaimed patriotic member of the modern Tea Party, what he did on this important national holiday, he proudly claimed to be working. Now, granted this is probably a more noble way to spend a day than shopping holiday sales at the mall or hanging out in the backyard with a burger flipper in one hand and a brew in the other. Yet, it seems to fall short of the mark when it comes to honoring those courageous enough to serve their country in battle.

While most sane people will tell you war is the least productive enterprise with the greatest economic, as well as human, drain on our society, Memorial Day pays tribute to the warrior and not the war.  My brother-in-law, who fought in Vietnam, reminded me as we stood near the tombstone of my father, a veteran of World War II, the original name was Decoration Day, because it was a time for the children of those who had died to decorate the fallen heroes graves.

We walked across the cemetery to a place where people gathered to listen to a choir sing a tribute to each of the branches of the military. Even though budget cuts removed the customary flyover, spirits weren’t dampened as white homing pigeons were released and guns were fired into the air.

Photo of Nixon and his four brothers on a wall
of the house where he was born.

For the remainder of the day, I convinced my sister and brother-in-law to join us for a tour of the Richard Nixon Library, which was open to the public without charge during the holiday. One of the historians pointed out that our thirty-seventh president shared a common bond with John Kennedy, his archrival in his original bid for the White House. They were both Navy men, a worthy footnote on Memorial Day.

As we strolled through the exhibit commemorating the centennial anniversary of Mr. Nixon’s birth, I discovered the nickname he received in the Navy was Nick Nixon. Those of us who were college students when he ordered the National Guard to thwart a protest at Kent State University an

d four unarmed students were killed had some nicknames for him, but Nick wasn’t one of them.

I'm standing in front of the helicopter that carried
presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford.

Of course, then there was Watergate. Few need reminding he is the only man ever to resign the office of president. Yet, a tour of his library is a reminder of what he was able to accomplish. He was born and raised in a house his father built from a kit. After fighting in World War II, becoming a lawyer, congressman, and U.S. senator, he became vice president at 39 years of age. Despite humiliating defeats to both Kennedy for president, and Pat Brown for governor of California, he returned to win the White House during one of the most turbulent times in our nation’s history. His legacy includes opening diplomatic relations with China, forming the Environmental Protection Agency, defending Israel from annihilation, lowering the voting age so those who fight for their country between the ages of 18 and 21 can participate in the electoral process, and ending the draft. It’s good to be reminded on Memorial Day that patriots are neither good nor evil, but humans with many sides.