MEMORIAL DAY
As I recall, this is the day when we pay tribute to those who gave their lives in service to this country. This is the day when the Old Guard unit at Ft. Myer puts a flag on every grave in Arlington National Cemetery (ANC). It's been a while since I was on that detail.
The Cemetery is a nice place to visit. Thirteen miles of roadway, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK's grave with the eternal flame.
I was a member of the Presidential Saluting Battery back in the early seventies. Many of the cannon salutes I was assigned were in ANC - funerals for high ranking military officers.
On this particular day, we had a fifteen-gun salute in the Cemetery. Three guns on a hill top, three second intervals. Below us, two hundred meters to the front, an older couple stood in front of a headstone.
The order was spoken, "Ready on one. Fire!"
The woman screamed, "Stop!"
"Ready on two. Fire!"
"Stop it! Stop it!"
"Ready on three..."
She fell to her knees with her face in her hands. The old man knelt beside her with his hands on her shoulders.
Happy Memorial Day
