Remember Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, but sometimes we forget why we are marking it. This year, amidst the appliance sales and barbeques and much-needed time off from work and school, set aside some time to remember why all of those things are happening.
One way to remember is to go to the place in Phoenix that has been set aside for just this purpose: Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. Bolin Plaza is a stretch of land across from the State Capitol building, on 17th Ave and Washington. It contains nearly three dozen memorials (there are even more on the Capitol grounds themselves), including pieces dedicated to a multitude of military conflicts. You can read more about Bolin Plaza on Wikipedia and use this 2017 map of its contents if you’d like to plan your family’s trip ahead of time.
Physical memorials are a fantastic way of taking an abstract idea like deaths in war and making it something you can see and touch. But they are also, with a few notable exceptions (like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.), individual deaths that have been turned into a nameless, faceless group of those lost. Consider turning those we mourn on Memorial Day back into individuals by adding some of their names to your family’s prayer list. Find names of those who have died while serving in the U.S. military by checking out one or more of these incredibly robust resources:
Honor The Fallen includes military deaths during Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn and is searchable by operation or by year/month
The Wall of Faces includes all 58,000+ servicemembers represented on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial along with pictures and remembrances left by family, friends, and the public
Honor States is a vast searchable database of WWI, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War casualties (“Gold Star Veterans”) that is searchable by name, conflict, and home state and includes biographical details and a list of awards and commendations for many
Dig in and choose some names to add to those you might be personally connected to. Read whatever you can about the servicemembers you’ve chosen. Then add them to your family’s prayer list over the next weeks or months – don’t feel like you need to limit yourselves to Memorial Day itself! Honor their sacrifices, keep their memories alive, and reconnect with the true meaning of Memorial Day.
