The Messaging of Memorial Day

Another Memorial Day is here. Cookouts. Baseball games. Parades. A long weekend. And that’s okay. I guess.

But let’s not forget the real purpose of today — to remember the men and women of our armed services who have died in service to their country.

At Arlington National Cemetery, soldiers, sailors and marines from the United States Army Old Guard placed flags at the grave stones there. It takes thirteen hundred soldiers three hours to place a flag at each of the more than 300,000 gravestones.

This weekend, thousands of visitors will pay their respects, not only at Arlington, but at the Long Island National Cemetery, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu and, of course, at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

There are even freshly placed flags flying over the graves of the small civil war veterans plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier. A fitting tribute since this holiday was first enacted as Decoration Day to commemorate Union soldiers from the Civil War, and later expanded to honor casualties of any military action. Now we also remember the victims of the attacks on September 11, 2001, and of course the fallen service members from the wars of the past fourteen years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Still, Memorial Day has somehow has evolved to mark the unofficial start of summer, with barbecues and cookouts and the occasional pub crawl. So, let’s not forget, as we fire up the grill and head off to the beach that, while we cookout and visit with our families, this holiday marks a solemn day for those families forever separated by war.

When I put my children to bed tonight, I will tell them about the real message of Memorial Day — a message of men and women who have died to protect their freedom. I try to give them this message not just on Memorial Day, but often. I want them to grow up honoring those who have sacrificed their lives so that we can live ours in peace and freedom.

*An earlier version of this post appeared at Anderson Cooper 360.com in 2009.