This year, it was additionally poignant for me, as now there were two servicemen whom I had a connection with; besides the fact that we'd all served in a branch of the Armed Forces.
I first visited, SSgt Brian Joiner's grave site. A young man, son of a work friend of mine, who served in the US Air Force during the Persian Gulf War. He'd been the only one, till this year, whom I had a connection with among the thousands buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
I paid my respects to SSgt Joiner and then, feeling more saddened than usual, moved to section 36 to find Joe's grave site.
Joe died in January of this year, he'd served in the US Navy, retiring as a Senior Chief Petty Officer or SCPO. He'd been a good neighborhood friend and we hope his family have found some peace; I am sure Joe has.
Joe's section is growing....
Flanked by US Army men, Joe is in good company.
Everywhere you looked, you saw folks coming to pay their respects to their family members and friends. The colors at each grave site fluttered lightly in the breeze of a sunny Colorado day; a good day to remember those who gave their all.
2 comments:
Cemeteries always have a sadness to them -- military or otherwise. They're perhaps one of the increasingly rare places where the world recedes and bit to allow for some personal thinking. I remember my mother taking me to the Lorraine American Cemetery in Germany shortly after it opened in 1960. The magnitude and organization of so many crosses has stuck with me my entire life. Couldn't understand then how so many people died and have trouble with it now.
I'm sure it must be different for someone who has served in the armed forces to visit such places than it is for me. I only hope I can express a level of respect and gratitude sufficient to their sacrifice -- everyday. Not just once a year.
Thanks for your thoughts and comments Steve. Military cemeteries, in my mind, serve several purposes....a fitting resting place for a nation’s service members, a place for their families to connect with their departed, a place for veterans to remember and reminisce with fallen comrades, but in my mind they’re also a reminder to a nation that our way of life had and continues to cost dearly....a message I fear is forgotten and/or ignored by growing numbers.......
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