Memorial Day Weekend is upon us. This is one of the holidays that reminds me of my father. No...not because he is deceased but because I can remember him dressing up in his Disabled American Veterans Uniform along with Uncle Jim and Uncle Harland on Memorial Day. Then we would all load up in the car and drive to the local cemeteries where they would have a ceremony to honor the veterans. I can remember them having a color guard and gun salute over the graves of the veterans. I can remember collecting up the rifle casings afterwards. There was always something somber and dignified about the ceremony.
I can remember Uncle Harland getting after us kids (Jack, Jane, Denys, and me) about not running around in the cemetery and showing respect to the grave sites. It all makes more sense to me now as I reflect on some of the stories we heard at his funeral. The first year after Uncle Harland died, Mom, Denys, Jane, Judy and I met at the Lincoln Cemetery for the gun salute. Gil Karst, one of Harland's buddies from the war was participating in the ceremony. All of the DAV soldiers looked so old. Gil got pretty emotional as we all did.
In my childhood days we also used to go to Rockland, Idaho for Memorial Day. Grandpa and Grandma Rock had 2 children buried there along with many other family members. It was a time to listen to the relatives recall their favorite memories. It was also a time for having a huge family picnic. Lots of good memories......