Jennifer McKenzie
Romance--Boy meets girl. Romantic Suspense--Boy meets girl with dead bodies.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
This is Memorial Day Weekend in the U.S. We barbecue, camp, get together with family and watch NASCAR at Charlotte. Often, as I'm looking forward to the long weekend, the reason for the holiday doesn't occur to me. Yet, I am the daughter of a Marine. (There's no such thing as an "ex-Marine"). I am the grand daughter of a Navy man who fought in WW II. My uncle fought in Vietnam, my father fought in Korea and both my grandfathers fought in Germany and the Pacific. I am from a long line of military tradition. Memorial Day is for them.
It's for the soldiers that stood on the front lines regardless of their politics or the politics back home. It's for the soldiers who have done the mind-numbing work that no one remembers in places like Okinawa, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Guantanamo Bay. It's to remember all the soldiers that DON'T make the news. The ones that do their job and do it well. It's the ones that head out innocent and come back broken. My husband's cousin, whose experience in the Gulf War created so much anguish that he committed suicide in 1999. My best friend's kids who all took their turn serving the country they love and not for the college money. Jason, who served as a Marine. Chiloh, who served in the army and almost went covert. And Justin, who went into the Navy and then found out he had Muscular Dystrophy.
It's to remember the ones who peeled the potatoes, heal the wounded, pass out the food and supplies in Thailand, stand at our borders as a target in more ways than one. The grunt, the sailor, the infantry that is massed under the common term "The Troops".
Perhaps it's because I know people serving that have changed "The Troops" for me to mean something more, something special.
What a burden it must be to represent "America" in all those places. Some don't do it well. Some go above and beyond. For them, I wish them safety and security. As I remember Joe's grandfather (who died last year) who parachuted into France, and my son's namesake, who is one of 50 men out of 2000 that survived a battle in Korea, and my father who carried shrapnel in his legs when his jeep was blown up and he was the only one who survived, I am in awe of the sacrifice that continues when the war is over.
That's what Memorial Day is to me. Remembering the dead and the living, and being grateful that they were willing to step forward.
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Name:: Jennifer McKenzie Location:: California
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