Health & Fitness
Memorial Day Thoughts
Memorial Day is set aside to remember those Vets who died. Let's expand the scope by recognizing those still around.
I will attend the on Monday on land that used to be a part of the Wallach Farm there. Part of the Fenton park has been set aside to remember veterans of the area, and contains donation plaques from most all my relatives in the area who served.
Retired Marine Colonel Dan Mater, now of Houston, will be the main speaker. A relative of mine, being a son of one of my cousins, I watched his career in the Marines, especially as he was in charge of taking a tract of Kuwait desert and setting up a camp, which would later hold more than 65,000 Marines for the assault on Iraq.
He and I wrote by e-mail several times during that period, and I was happy that I could bring a bit of greenest to the dust of the desert by talking about baling hay and things here locally.
Find out what's happening in Eureka-Wildwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
When he came back here, he rewarded me with some pictures of his headquarters there, as well as other pictures of castles they occupied in the assault on Bagdad, along with a folded flag that had flown over his city headquarters.
While Memorial Day originally was called Decoration Day to honor those who gave their lives in the Civil War, we now have veterans of all wars since then to remember. In doing so, these celebrations are usually honored by veterans still alive, so it will be great to hear from our speaker this year. His son is now serving in Afghanistan and I write to him once in a while to keep up on the living there.
Find out what's happening in Eureka-Wildwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Before this site was a Fenton City Park, an uncle had a wheat crop on the land, and we were asked to combine, that is, harvest the wheat. It was in floodplain, so that is why the city took it over. Dan Mater's grandfather, George Wallach, was my godfather, so I guess I have the right to personalize this Memorial Day, for the living as well as for the dead.
So, from the current issue of the VFW Magazine, headlined, "Patriotism: What it means to be an American," the cover has a quote from Abraham Lincoln. The quote is: "I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him."
In my book Four Generations of Service, I featured Dan Mater in my tribute to family members who have served and died, so it is fitting I use him to also honor those who still live. Semper Fi Dan and to Dano in Afgahanistan.