Veteran explains what Memorial Day is supposed to be about

VIDEO: Veteran reminds crowd of Memorial Day meaning

New Castle News
Dan Irwin
May 27, 2019

Many regard it as the unofficial start of summer.

However, Ruth Fairchild reminded listeners at Saturday’s annual Memorial Day program at the Lawrence County courthouse monument that the holiday means so much more.

“Sadly, traditional observances of Memorial Day have been diminishing over the years,” said Fairchild, an Army veteran of both Desert Shield and Desert Storm who also is National Surgeon General of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored or neglected.”

Noting that some look upon Memorial Day as a day to honor all veterans, or a day to honor all dead, or even just as a day off work, Fairchild emphasized that the holiday is a time to honor servicemen and servicewomen who paid the ultimate price for their country.

“President Kennedy once said, ‘A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers,’ ” Fairchild said. “So today, let us remember why we are off of work, out of school. Today, let us honor all those who have fallen. Today, let us remember names.”

She provided some of those names by listing a handful of the county’s war dead from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq-Afghanistan.

“Let us make this Monday — this Memorial Day — a true remembrance to celebrate their courage, their deeds,” Fairchild said. “They have rightfully earned our gratitude, our respect and a place of honor among us.
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