Saluting the Colors: Kadena observes Memorial Day, honors the fallen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Maeson L. Elleman
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Airmen, Soldiers, sailors and Marines gathered at Chapel 1 here May 30 for a Memorial Day ceremony to celebrate the lives of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service of their country.

It was a quiet event filled with respect and dignity, but Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, III Marine Expeditionary Force commanding general and commander of Marine Forces Japan and guest speaker for the event, said it should never be a sad one.

"Today should be a solemn day but not a somber day, and I think we all understand the difference," Nicholson told the crowd of service members, veterans and families. "It's solemn in the sense that we're being respectful to our fallen, but not somber. We should be celebrating and honoring, in a positive way, those who have come before us."

As with tradition, Memorial Day is one of remembrance and honor for the fallen, with a history that stems back nearly 150 years when it was first instated as Decoration Day to honor those who fought and died in the American Civil War.

For decades, the date was set aside as a time to exclusively honor Civil War dead until the end of World War I, and it was still widely known as Decoration Day until the end of World War II.

According to Nicholson, many communities still claim the origin of the holiday, but President Lyndon Johnson bestowed the honor on Waterloo, New York, in 1966 and decreed that as of 1971 the date would no longer be affixed to May 30 each year, but instead fall on the final Monday of the month.

Though traditionally since then the date has been observed with a long weekend holiday, Nicholson said he remembers when it wasn't that way. He also warned that it still shouldn't be viewed that way, either, and charged those in attendance with a duty for the following year.

"Who wouldn't like a three-day weekend?" Nicholson asked. "More time with family, more time with friends, more time to go to the beach, more time to go to the mountains - what about those great sales at the mall? Who can resist?

"But somehow maybe we lost something," he said. "Somehow by not having this day fixed to the 30th so that it can fall on a Monday through Friday, by not having it associated with anything more than a three-day weekend, I think we lost something. We've lost the very essence of what this day means. We ought to have 10,000 (people) at events like this all over our nation.

"Thanks for being here today, but I've got some homework for you," Nichols continued. "Number one, if you attend a service like this next year, if you attend a Memorial Day gathering anywhere, bring your neighbor; bring your kid's soccer team; bring your church group; bring your club ... bring your whole neighborhood. We're quickly losing the essence of what today means to our nation."

Nicholson closed his speech with a reference to Maj. Sullivan Ballou, one of the Civil War veterans who fell from injuries sustained during the Battle of Bull Run. The then 32-year-old Rhode Island lawyer and politician had volunteered to serve his country when it needed him most, but sadly met an untimely end in 1861.

"I've held the hands of dying Marines and Soldiers," Nicholson said. "I've briefed teammates in country and loved ones at home. What I've come to believe with all my heart is that we have a nation full of Sullivan Ballous -- men and women who answered the call of duty not because they had to, not because they were drafted, not because they were forced to - young men and women from all services and from all parts of our country who stepped forward with an attitude of selfless dedication and belief in an ideal larger than themselves ... with an attitude of, 'if not me, who?'

"This Memorial Day is all about never allowing the memory and purpose of those lives, given from Lexington and Concord to Iraq and Afghanistan, to be forgotten," Nicholson added.

According to the Department of Veteran's Affairs, more than 650,000 service members have died in combat since the U.S. was founded.