‘Dad, what’s Memorial Day?’

Whenever I asked what Memorial Day was, I was told that it was a day for us to remember all those who lost their lives in the defense of our country and our freedom.  My own father (John) served our country for 22 years in the United States Army and is honorably retired.   He is a veteran of the Global War on Terrorism while serving in the historic 82nd Airborne Division.  I would ask him from time to time about his service and he always found it difficult to explain to me so that I could understand.   As I have gotten older now I asked my dad again the day before this Memorial Day “What is Memorial Day?”  My dad simply answered me with, “If you want to understand Memorial Day, then the best way I can explain it to you is if you come with me tomorrow and see it while visiting sites of family who have served.” On Memorial Day morning my dad, mom, and I piled into the car to take a drive, I had my camera and as always on Memorial Day was wearing my dad’s uniform top with all his badges and patches on it.   On the way to our first destination of Laurens I was again asking my dad about his time in the service. I had asked that question to him so many times and got the same answer of all the things he did, what his job was, all the places he has been to, etc.  I then asked him “Is Memorial Day for you?”   He promptly told me that it was not, and it was at that moment that we started to pull up to the Laurens cemetery and I saw all the waving United States flags along the driveway of the cemetery.   After we visited my dad’s extended family sites my dad had me walk around the small cemetery with him to the sites that had smaller American flags planted next to them, there were so many and just about every one of them was from WW II.  My dad asked me, “Do you see all of these flags?” I replied, “Yes.” We then drove across the street to another cemetery where they had just finished up a Memorial Day service.  We looked at all the flags blowing in the wind along the driveway and paused for a while at the memorial site and then my dad had me walk along with him again at the sites with the smaller American flags planted at them and he asked again, “Do you see all of these flags?” I again replied “Yes.” We then loaded up in the car and went off to our next destination. A few miles down the road we arrived in the town of Ayrshire. My dad told me that this was where his grandmother Marge was from and that he had some extended family in the cemetery here as well. When we arrived at the cemetery, we were just in time for their Memorial Day ceremony. We listened to one of the locals give a very moving speech and tell the story of four local Ayrshire men who had been killed in action in WW II.   I asked my dad who were the older gentleman who were there sitting down holding rifles and he informed me that they were the American Legion color guard and that they were there to render a three-gun salute. I asked what that was and he told me that I would see. At the conclusion of the speech the gentleman stood up, aimed their rifles in the air, and fired three shots, then the bugler played taps.  I looked up at my dad and saw him standing at the position of attention and extending a hand salute.  It was really impressive seeing my dad still giving respect in that way and having discipline even though he had been retired for seven years now.   We went over and talked to the gentleman and took pictures and shook hands. My dad explained to me that these were all veterans. They took the time to talk to me a little bit and noticed the last name on my dad’s service jacket that I was wearing and started talking to my dad about knowing his grandmother and his grandfather.  My dad had me walk around the cemetery again with him looking at the smaller flags placed at the sites. He asked me once again “Do you see all of these flags?” I once again said, “Yes” and we loaded back up in the car to our next stop. Again, not too far down the road we pulled into the Dickens cemetery. My dad told me that this was where his great- grandmother was buried. We visited that site for a minute and then my dad and I walked around the cemetery and this time he did not need to ask if I saw all the flags, I think because he saw me looking at all of them but not looking at them in a casual way. We left Dickens and headed back to Storm Lake. We had two more stops to make at St. Mary’s cemetery to visit his grandfather and grandmother and then the Buena Vista County Courthouse. We visited their sites and planted flags and then walked through the cemetery looking at all the other sites that had the smaller flags planted at them.   We then made the quick trip to the courthouse. When we arrived at the courthouse, I could not believe all the flags planted on the courthouse lawn. The wind was blowing enough that all the flags were blowing beautifully in the air. My dad explained to me that we were going to walk through these flags and find the one dedicated to his grandfather. He told me to look for the tag that says Richard Manly Felton.   Right as I was about to get started my dad told me do not just look at whatever tag is on the flag and move on but to look at it, read the name of whoever it is, think of that person even if you do not know them. I watched my dad walk slowly through the forest of American flags pausing to read the tag on the flag that he was looking at. He took his time to read the name and you could see him saying thank you to whoever was on that tag. It took us a little while to find his grandfather’s flag (I was the one who found it but I knew my dad would not be upset if it took him a little longer to find it so I did not tell him).   My dad finally found his grandfather’s flag and I saw my dad cry a little bit. He asked me “Do you see all of the flags?” I hugged him tightly and told him, “Yes, I do.” I kept asking myself throughout the trip and the day why my dad kept asking if I saw all the flags and then it came to me after a while. I had been to Memorial Day parades and things of that nature before when I lived in Phoenix, but it never resonated with me before on a scale like today.  I traveled to cemeteries and memorial sites in Laurens, Ayrshire, Dickens and Storm Lake. I saw thousands of flags. These towns are not big, I would even venture a guess that very few people have even heard of these places and even in the state of Iowa and these small-town cemeteries and courthouses are flooded with small American flags at many of their gravesites.   Every single one of the flags I saw today represents someone who when called upon served and some gave the ultimate sacrifice to defend and preserve the very freedoms that we live under in our country.   The importance of Memorial Day should not be taken for granted or overlooked these amazing men and women and the ones who laid the groundwork before them deserve the utmost respect and remembrance from all of us. They are the sole reason we can say, think, and do all the things that we do daily. That is what Memorial Day is.   Thank you, to all of you amazing people. Avery Felton is a Storm Lake High School sophomore, who on her own, took photos and wrote this piece about her experience on Memorial Day.