This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

A Veteran's View of Memorial Day

Memorial Day takes on special meaning when someone has spent most of their life serving in our Armed Forces. Just ask Commander Greg Roach of Plainfield.

I have just had the honor of making the acquaintance of U.S. Navy Cmdr. Greg Roach. Readers of Plainfield Patch probably recognize his name as he has just returned from Afghanistan and was greeted with a well-attended and well-deserved public welcome home celebration.

He has a message for the young people in our community about Memorial Day. He doesn’t want to take the fun out of what is most commonly seen as the start of summer and a day off from school and work. On the contrary, he wants people to go out and enjoy a barbeque or picnic, a day at the pool or time with friends and family. 

He simply asks that before you partake in this traditional kickoff to summer, spend a few moments reflecting on the sacrifices of those who gave their lives in defense of this country in order to preserve our way of life.

Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Roach says there are plenty of opportunities to recognize the day with scheduled and organized activities. American Legion Marne Post No. 13 will be once again organizing a parade through town and placing flags on the graves of those who answered our nation's call to serve and are buried at Plainfield Community and St. Mary’s cemeteries. Both are traditional Memorial Day activities.

More important than any organized event, however, is simply taking a moment to reflect and remember. Being cognizant of the reason for the day off school or work, and teaching the next generation that the fun and sun they are about to enjoy came with a cost, one that was paid willingly by every generation since this nation began.

Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Roach is quick to say he doesn’t want to see Memorial Day be a day of despair. He says it is what he fought and sacrificed for, the ability of Americans to go on being Americans.

His most recent deployment was in Afghanistan, where he said good ol’ American ingenuity was put to work building a satellite dish so they could receive Armed Forces broadcasts and watch TV shows from home in the mess hall. He remembers coming back from missions and feeling the disconnect between the reality they were living and the obsession with Hollywood that makes up so much of American television programming.

It was an interesting mix of emotions, he said, getting the first hot meal he may have had in days as he watched people back home being so invested in who got kicked off Survivor that week.

On the one hand, he said, it was upsetting to see what was consuming people’s attention while we are a nation at war. On the other was the realization that these often silly and mindless obsessions, the ability of people to go about their daily lives in the way they choose, was the purpose for his being where he was in the first place. It is this realization he wants people here to remember.

When asked how he would explain Memorial Day to a group of second-graders, he said he has done just that with his own kids, one of whom is in second grade. He explains that it is a day to pay respect and remember the people who gave their life, to thank them and say a prayer for them.

If the audience is older, such as high school juniors, he goes into more detail and puts it in terms more relevant to their lives. “This weekend, this day off relaxing and enjoying the day”, he says, “find an opportunity, attend a parade or a ceremony in the morning, at least take a moment to remember the option to enjoy yourself came with a price someone else paid.”

Since there is no such thing as a national holiday without some form of controversy, I asked Roach for his thoughts on those who are complaining that the message/meaning of Memorial Day is being diluted when police, firefighters and first responders are included in many of the speeches we hear.

His answer is while he understands those who feel this day is for honoring and recognizing those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation, it is those first responders who were the front lines and among the first casualties of the initial battle of this War on Terror that began on 9/11.

Police and firefighters rushed into those burning towers, forfeiting their own lives to save civilians who were just going about their day. Even at the Pentagon, more civilians than active duty military members were killed. The intent of Memorial Day is to honor those who died at the hands of our enemy, and those first responders certainly qualify for that distinction.

Because it is an election year and a pivotal moment in the War on Terror, I asked Roach what things he would like to see people be more aware of, particularly in light of the troop draw down in Afghanistan.

He said he is impressed with and grateful for the fact that the American public is asking questions. “That is what a democratic society should do. What would be worse is if no one paid attention,” he said.

And while it is a fact that “innocent people have died; it is not possible to remove that horrible side effect of war,” more than “86 percent of civilian casualties are a direct result of enemy action,” as a recent U.N. commission report stated.

Our enemy knows us, and uses that knowledge against us, he said. What they know is “we make decisions every day to minimize our footprint on the civilian population” and we frequently “put ourselves at risk as a result of the decision to uphold who we are as a people,” he said. This means there are times when solid information on where the enemy is received, but the decision is made not to react or respond with force because they're using civilians as shields, Roach said.

For the future of Afghanistan, he is hopeful. He wants to remind people how far we and the Afghan people have come. Prior to the war, the country had little infrastructure, official prohibitions against educating women and barely functional literacy among men. Yet he is quick to point out that we are not and have never tried to create American-style democracy, only to “infuse democracy into their form of government, a government which is very different from ours.”

The greatest challenges that remain -- the same challenges we’ve had all along -- are to help strengthen “Afghan leadership that will be less likely to support and enable future attacks against the world, and specifically against us.”

Roach is proud of the work our military has done, which he sees as “combat elements supporting the development mission,” a mission that's a marathon, not a sprint. On the homefront, he is most proud of the way we are teaching our young people to honor and remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, not just in this war but in all the wars fought to maintain our way of life.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?