Hey Space Cadets, today I want to step away from the SciFy goodness that normally inhabits this page and talk about the elephant in the room. I know that many of you live in the US just like I do, and for us it’s Memorial Day. A day where we remember those who died for freedom, mourn their deaths, while celebrating their lives. This day has always been a special time to me, I’m a military brat from a long line of veterans. I was told stories from an early age, but they never quite felt real. They were just stories that were great adventures but weren’t tangible for me. Sadly, that all changed after Iraq because now they weren’t just strange adventure tales, they were my stories. My ghosts. So yeah, now I’ll unashamedly weep for the fallen because the stories became about my friends. These names that we celebrate are no longer just abstract and esoteric, they’re people I served with. I knew them, heard stories of their lives, saw pictures of their families. I met their significant others; wives, girlfriends, husbands, boyfriends. I held their kids at unit functions and argued with them over bad calls on mandatory fun sporting events. Every day is Memorial Day now, but on this specific holiday I make an effort to remember them in a more tangible manner. I show their pictures to my kids, tell their stories and touch the shared mementos of our service. If we tell their stories, they’re not really gone and we honor what they gave up. I’m on a one-man war to save their stories from the vagaries of fickle memories. Why do I do this? Because of everything they gave up; birthdays they’ll never have and kids they’ll never get to meet and every traffic jam they won’t cuss about because even that’s a gift from where they lay, in what I hope is a peaceful slumber.
Rest Easy My Brothers and Sisters, until we meet again in Valhalla.
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are images used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
J.R. Handley Blog 
As individuals, we must keep the memories of the fallen alive. A person that hasn’t been in the military can’t understand that this day is not about saving money on a Memorial Day sale somewhere, It’s so much more. There is a kinship among those who served, and with that, an understanding of the memories that bring emotions to the surface. Those memories aren’t of the military machine. They are of the people in that machine that gave everything they had … and more. People from cities and people from small towns that joined together. Not superheroes, but ordinary people that found an internal strength and the determination to do what was necessary to protect the ideals they cherished. I salute you, sir, for keeping it real. I’m sure salutes are being returned to you by those we may one day see again.
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Thank you, and I’ll keep doing it because those crazy SOBs I served with deserve it ya know. But you summed it up eloquently.
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Well said Sir.
A somber day for so many of us. We had a BBQ at our house today and invited a widow and her daughter of a friend that ate a lot of dust over there. He didn’t die over there, but it doesn’t make his loss any less painful.
Good for you for remembering your buds and for keeping their stories alive.
rob
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Thank you, sir. And back at ya! Hope you enjoyed the BBQ!
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in the U.K. we pay our respect to the fallen on a different day, but in my heart I hold a silent wish for peace. Sending love to all of my companions over sea’s.
My father was in the first gulf war, I share your sentiments.
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Thank you, and we shall remember yours on their Memorial Day! Just post a blog, I’ll share it!
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Well said, JR. I didn’t serve, but have deep respect for those who did, and for those who were lost protecting the rest of us. Thank you for your service.
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You’re welcome!
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