Memorial Day

During this time of pandemic people have had to get used to reduced gatherings, and events.  This year Memorial Day, generally recognized as the beginning of summer, had a much different feel than years past.  While I have not regularly attended local McFarland events, the lack of events provided a different feel to the holiday this year. However, that did not mean the experience without a gathering was not meaningful.

McFarland Legion Memorial

Locally, the American Legion post sponsors a parade on the morning of Memorial Day, and while the large area parade would be in Monona, the local legion parade fits a small community just fine.  Although years ago I have to admit it was sort of lame.  When our children were younger we would watch the parade, and as they got a little older they were often in the parade, from Tiger Cubs, to Cub Scouts, to Boy Scouts or with the middle or high school band.  My wife and I bought this house on May 25, 1990, the Friday before Memorial Day, and my first recollection of the Memorial Day parade in town was moving her into the house and getting stuck at the blocked street while trying to get to the house.  We are about a block from the parade route, and lack of a street grid system meant that we had to wait while it passed the intersection or go miles out of the way.  I think I chose going around the route.  If I had known then, as I did later, how few units are the parade, I may well have stayed and watched for the street to reopen.It may have been quicker.  As an aside, I mentioned to my wife a few days ago, on May 26, that it was 30th anniversary of the first full day of owning the house, with a mortgage of course.  Well, my Land Girl thought it no big issue and has no sentimental attachment to that day. I thought it was a neat fact, she apparently did not.  But, that is quite frequent of facts I think are neat, but no one else seems to care.

National and some Service Flags at the Memorial

Beyond the parade, there is also the Legion BBQ.  Located next to the High School, the Legion would host a chicken BBQ, which we have attended a few times in the past.  It is, or was, a big deal in town, but this year of course it was canceled.  After the parade, which ends at the High School, people would flock to the Legion for lunch.  The BBQ smell, would waft over the parade route, meaning it moved stomachs and moving stomachs it moved minds to get something to eat., and getting something to eat meant going to the source of the BBQ smell--the legion.

Casket flags beyond the service and main national flag

In 2005 the Legion installed a memorial to recognize local service members.  Andrew, our oldest son, created a landscape plan, received Legion approval and oversaw, and assisted, the boy scouts and other community members who helped install the landscaping as his Eagle Scout project.  He gathered donations to pay for the planting as well as sold items to assist with the fund raising. The landscape plan provided shrubs that have a red flower in the spring, about the time of Memorial Day, and also had Stella d' Oro day lilies with their gold flower to bloom on the fourth. I think improper pruning affected the bloom this year.  The nation's flag, flanked by the state and service flags sit in the center of, and slightly taller poles, than the waves of adjoining casket flags, which are in place to recognize those from the community who sacrificed for their country.

But, the Legion does more than a chicken dinner on Memorial Day, they also hold an event with a speaker to recognize and recall those who served and gave their life.  They also identify the boys and girls selected for Badger Boys and Girls State, for which both my sons were selected.  In 2011, at his Badger Boys State recognition on Memorial day, our youngest son Joe had the opportunity to meet Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Salvatore Giunta.  Joe's Eagle Scout project raised supplies to send to troops serving in Afghanistan.  The goal was to provide supplies to the unit of local resident Joshua Brennan, the 173rd Airborne.  Brennan, had been killed in action during an ambush by the Taliban in Kunar Province and the community wished to support his unit.  Giunta, a member of Brennan's unit, took fire himself in order to save other members of the unit, and for that he was awarded one of the Nation's highest honors.  Joe received donations of money and items, and organized his homeroom and Christ the King and McFarland Lutheran youth groups in gathering and assembling supplies, and mailing.  Community support was so large that many other units were able to benefit. 

Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Salvatore Giunta
Speaking at McFarland Legion 2011 Memorial Day Ceremony
Author photo, May 2011 

For all the years I have been in town there is one constant about Memorial Day, and that is the flying of a casket flag for members of the post and community who have sacrificed for the nation.  Seeing the large mass of flags flying on the hillside cannot help but think of the sacrifice of those the day serves, those who died in battle, but also by extension those who had or do give part of their life to serve the nation.  On Sunday, my wife and I stopped by to view the flags and Legion Memorial.

This year the sound at the local memorial among its multitude of flags was not the speech of some dignitary, the 21 gun salute, or the clapping and rancor of an appreciative crowd, but rather the gentle whoosh the wind and the flapping of the flags on an otherwise lonely hill side.  While I missed hearing the bands play in the parade and the smell of the BBQ, the casket flags and memorial stand testament to the true meaning of Memorial Day. The silence, but for the flapping of the flags, is a solemn reminder of the purpose of the day.  A speech was not required.

Unless noted otherwise photos by author on 5/24/2020