It is with honor ETBlitz.com pays tribute today… MEMORIAL DAY 2024

Here at ETBlitz.com, we do sports. Sports is what we do. Now, we’re also going to cover all the activities that surround sports, and we’ll talk more about that as the 2024 school year gets closer.

But we’re going to depart from all of that to talk about something today that a lot of people don’t feel comfortable discussing, because it’s tough – it tugs at the heart.

That’s Memorial Day.

I’m not going to preach to you in this space to make you feel badly about having a long weekend. That’s not what this column is for.

I’m simply going to reiterate what Memorial Day is all about – although I feel like most everyone reading this already knows that.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. It’s when the United States, as a federally-observed holiday, honor men and women who gave their lives while serving in the Armed Forces.

The first time it was observed as a national holiday was on May 30, 1868, although it wasn’t officially observed as “Memorial Day” and named as the last Monday in May by Congress until just over 100 years later, in 1971.

Now, what’s the difference in Memorial Day and other holidays with military observances? Pretty obvious – Armed Forces Day, celebrated each May, as well, is to honor people currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Veterans Day, marked each November 11, honors those who have served.

There are graves of soldiers in every East Texas cemetery. There’s a Veterans Wall memorial in Kilgore at Harris Street; Gladewater has Gladewater Veterans Memorial Plaza; and of course, the Rusk County Veteran’s Wall at the courthouse in Henderson.

The meme, if I can use that word, that’s all over social media that shows a beach scene where people are swimming and having a good time, then under that, shows what is supposed to be Omaha Beach, Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 – typically referred to as “D-Day.” There’s normally a caption with this meme that says “Your day at the beach was made possible by their day at the beach.”

It’s true.

Our way of life, though it’s decades and decades removed now, was greatly affected by the events not only then, but 20 years prior in World War I, and in years since.

And while that’s all so true, you don’t have to reach back that far.

There was Korea. There was Vietnam. There was Kuwait.

There’s – today.

That’s right. September 11, 2001 changed our world. American military personnel, and I’ll include our police and all of our law enforcement authorities, fight a battle every single day, even now.  

So we take this weekend, the final weekend of May every year, and pay tribute to those who have passed in the line of duty, serving this country. Please understand that your country would be so different had they not been willing to go and do what they did – so that you can now go and do what you want to do.

And when you see military personnel in service now, or especially someone who has served and is now in retirement, when possible, thank them for their sacrifices. Sacrifices is a word said there often, but I promise you – and you can ask them this, too – it is very much not used as a cliché.

Have a blessed Memorial Day.