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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Veterans in Touch – Memorial Day Memories

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Memorial Day is a rough day for me. It’s a day of remembering.

Remembering can be a curse when you have spent years trying to forget. It is even worse when you get mad at yourself for not being able to remember. It’s strange that you forget so many things you want to remember and remember so much that you really want to forget.

Memorial Day is not a day for self-evaluation or selfish thoughts. So I turn my remembrances to other people places and things.

I remember heat. Heat that kept you from getting a full breath for weeks. Heat that made you tired and kept you from sleeping. I remember lush green mountains that always seemed to go up and not down. Red earth that was sticky enough to glue a deuce and a half in place.

I remember rice paddies that could get you killed or save your life. I remember rain that let you get a good clean shower and rotted your feet until they bled. I remember the sun that created the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I have ever seen in my life. I remember a moon that shone so bright you could read a map by it.

I’ll never forget the colors of an explosion close at hand. I remember the red and green tracers dancing lazily through the night while I prayed that none came home to roost on me. I remember the sights sounds and smells of the gunships circling at night dropping flares and firing tracers.

But above all this I remember people. Faces and personalities still crowd my days and nights with pleasure and pain. I can remember entire conversations and events in explicit detail. I cannot remember the names of more than a few and I don’t know why. Shouldn’t this be the other way around?

Of the hundreds I met and knew I kick myself for remembering so few. Especially on this Memorial Day when I feel I should be able to remember each and every one. This is their day. I will not spoil it by forgetting even one of their number.

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Mike Barbour
Mike Barbour
Mike Barbour is a Service Officer, American Legion Post 43, and regular contributor to PN. Also contact him at mbarbour@wowway.com.

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