I remember my childhood in Indiana. Memorial Day revolved around backyard cookouts, a transistor radio and the Indianapolis 500. Back then, The Indy 500 wasn't televised live. You'd listen to it on the radio, and watch it the next weekend on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Our family would gather in the backyard, put charcoal in the grill, turn on the radio and hand crank peach ice cream. We really didn't do much to remember our fallen war heroes.
As a journalist and a father years later, my family celebrated Memorial Day differently. I would always volunteer to cover the Memorial Day remembrances for the newspaper. My daughter and wife usually would accompany me to these events.
Usually, the celebration started with a color guard presenting the flags, and a pastor leading those gathered in prayer. Usually, the head of the VFW or American Legion would say a few words, and someone would read the names of local soldiers killed during war. A bugler would close the ceremony by playing Taps.
Often, the crowd watching the ceremony would be smaller than the contingent of people participating in it. Of course, I would return to the newspaper offices, write my story and ready my pictures for publication in the next day's paper.
I never could find the words to describe the lump in my throat and the chill that ran up and down my spine when the bugler played Taps, and I understood the sacrifices my neighbors made to keep me and my family safe and free.
At 9:30 a.m. Monday, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2027 will conduct a Memorial Day ceremony at Sunset Memorial Gardens.
I plan to be there. It would be exciting to see the number of spectators surpass the number of participants.
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