My Fellow Citizens
Yesterday, I was speaking to someone when they stated that they can’t wait for the long weekend over the Memorial Day Holiday. Of course, my thoughts as a military veteran was to correct them with a reminder that it is not a holiday but an observance of the “last full measure of devotion” that so many gave for our country and its people. I could not help but reflect on the tears shed by those at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington as a soldier touches the name of a buddy who was, in just an instant taken away, by a mortar shell or enemy bullet. In Dillon County, I think of SGT Ed Philpot and SSG James Bullard who I helped get ready to go to war in Afghanistan but who did not come home. I see their smiling faces of happiness but also of duty as they checked equipment, signed documents in the field and got on a Army plane full of life but would return in a flag draped coffin on a similar plane.
I thought of those I served with in Kosovo who later died serving our country not long after enjoying a cookout on Memorial Day 2003 during our deployment in that war torn country. To this day, I still see these comrades, feel their presence and voices of optimism for their future. Veterans all over our country begin to weep in their hearts if not on their faces at this time of year as they remember fallen comrades who seemed to be next to them just yesterday on the field of battle.
I could not help remembering Chad Owens, a mixed up kid who kept getting into trouble in Dillon and thought the Army would make him a better person. He joined and did just that, receiving many awards before he was killed in Iraq. The initial tears of his parents were supplemented by the pride that their son had died a hero’s death and not in a brawl defying the law which at one time seemed to be his destiny. His name now appears on the county’s Wall of Honor. Contrast that with Citadel Graduate John David whose name also adorns that Wall. The son of a prominent family with great promise, he chose to leave the comforts of a good life in Dillon with many benefits to be among the first to volunteer to fight in World War I. There on March 1, 1918, he died while trying to save other soldiers. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for Heroism and was the first American officer killed in the War. When news of his death reached the streets of Dillon, all businesses closed their doors for a day in remembrance of this Dillon County/American Hero. Bittersweet, but both are reflective of so many that did not plan to be heroes but gave their all for our country.
Then as I could almost hear the laughter and feel the happiness of these young Americans, who probably represent similar Americans who died in uniform over our two centuries of existence, it began to be clear to me that in a way the idea of a day off, a day of having a cook out with family and friends, a long weekend where Monday is a day to sleep longer instead of beginning a long week of work was something that people like John, James, Ed and Chad gave us through their sacrifice. Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend, ride your motorcycle, have a cookout and share with family. Those Americans whose names line the white stones at Arlington, fell at Lexington, made Flanders Field run red with blood, whose bodies still lie entombed in the battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor, died on the beaches of Normandy, the jungles of Vietnam, the desert of Iraq or hills of Afghanistan would have joined you if God had allowed them to return home. All veterans ask is that you take at least a second or two and remember them, buy a red poppy, go to a Memorial Day Service, but, as Lincoln said, “highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain” by just a moment or two of remembrance and appreciation of the freedoms that we enjoy by their sacrifice.
James E. Lockemy
Military Veteran
Dillon County, South Carolina
