Memorial Day Memories

Happy Memorial Day! Did you know this day of remembrance began in 1868? Neither did I!

It was originally a commemoration of the lives lost in the Civil War but didn’t become a national holiday until the 70s, amidst the Vietnam War. Many who served in Vietnam were conscripted and some were even too young to vote on the policies that sent them overseas. The war was profoundly divisive.

So, in 1971 the government made Memorial Day a legal holiday to honor fallen soldiers. The same soldiers they sent to war. And a year later the draft was officially ended. Mistakes were made.

War is abhorrent but it’s also not simple. My Grandfather is buried in Arlington Cemetery, Washington DC, and spent his whole career in the Airforce. Not only do we honor all those that have died in the war, but we honor him. Now I don’t know the whole geopolitical story behind Vietnam, history is often hard to pin down, but my grandfather believed that the might of the US could bring peace and stability to a country torn apart by civil war. Maybe I would disagree with his path to this end but also maybe not. We’ve never discussed it.

No matter how inadequate a bank holiday is to make amends for the tragedies of war, today reminds me that it’s all a complicated and chaotic system out there. And you know what? That’s not bad for a bank holiday…