Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. It is today because of an act of Congress in 1971 which designated that it be on Monday. Prior to 1971, it was known as Decoration Day and was always held on May 30^th. It had been that way since the practice of honoring the fallen began immediately after the Civil War over 100 years prior.

Beside my involvement in events earlier today (a parade, a Memorial Day service in a small park in New Jersey, a flag ceremony at a local American Legion post after the service), I’d like to honor this day by noting three ways that I have been involved in honoring our soldiers.

For the first, I’d like you to go back to May 30^th, 1916 (99 years ago). On that day on the triangle in the center of my hometown, Wolcott, CT, there was unveiled a statue, dedicated to the fallen men of the town from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. This statue, which is still there to this day, was donated by Leverett Kenea (see http://www.chs.org/finding_aides/ransom/135.htm for further details). Mr. Kenea, who was 85 years old at the time was not living in Wolcott, but had been born there and his family had been in Wolcott for many years.

I have recently discovered that Leverett is my 3^rd cousin (4 times removed), because his grandmother was Obedience Alcox and his great*2 grandfather was John Alcox who is also one of my ancestors. I was not aware of this when I wrote a long poem about Wolcott in 1967 which was printed in a WHS publication of poetry by current and former students. One of the repeated stanzas in this poem was “A granite statue makes the center of this peaceful town. It’s dedicated to the past and it will ne’er fall down.” So I have ancestral ties to this statue which I’m sure was the center of attention at any Memorial Day ceremony in Wolcott earlier today.

[This poem is published in a collection of my poetry here - http://www.amazon.com/College-Daze-Alan-Russell/dp/1441499075/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432599138&sr=8-1&keywords=%22college+daze%22+alan+russell]

My second involvement is more recent. In 2009 I was involved in helping a veteran from our church, Bob Kauffman, in publishing his memoirs from WWII. Many of the stories in this book recounted friends of his who were killed action in Europe while he was in a nearby trench or running through the same fields. Bob passed on himself just a few days after Memorial Day two years ago and I still get tears in my eyes as I think about the experiences he had and how I was so privileged to capture those stories and get them published.

[You can read his book here - http://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Maturing-18-year-old-WW/dp/1448664349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432599266&sr=8-1&keywords=replacement+kauffman]

My final involvement began after I met Bob and was introduced to a small group of WWII researchers who were trying to honor the men killed in WWII who were part of the 3^rd Armored Division. I have been privileged to be able to join this small group and lend my skills in Internet research and using my subscription to ancestry.com to help locate missing information. There are approximately 2700 men in our database and each one has a “digital memorial” giving information about him, including if possible a picture of the grave where he is buried and a wartime picture of the individual. You can find our research here - http://www.36air-ad.com/. You can read about it on the website, or like our facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/3ADduringWW2?fref=ts.

Our country has been blessed by the contributions of all the individuals who have served the country and who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we may continue to enjoy the blessing of living here. I am happy that I have a small part in the remembrance of these individuals.

I close with the words that are printed on the last page of Bob’s book.

“Oh beautiful, for heroes proved

in liberating strife,

who more than self their country loved,

and mercy more than life. 

America, America,

God shed his grace on thee,

and crown thy good with brotherhood

from sea to shining sea.”