Memorial Day 2024 – David Stringer, Publisher

[Editors Note:  The following column has been updated from the Publisher’s traditional Memorial Day message]

Memorial Day is the traditional beginning of summer. For Prescott this marks the beginning of our busy tourist season. It’s a time for music and events on the Courthouse square, the Rodeo and 4th of July parade, travel plans and family vacations, summer nights on the patio,  and a multitude of good times.  Summer visitors fill our hotels and restaurants, bring crowds to our downtown and generate a third of Prescott’s  sales tax revenue. We welcome their return. By all means, bring on the  summer.

But the sober side of Memorial Day should not be forgotten. The one million war dead since our nation’s founding brings a measure of gravitas to this day  that deserves reflection. As Americans we like to think of ourselves as a free people—a beacon of human rights and dignity that sets an example for the world.  What America has accomplished in the history of nations has come at a great price in blood and sacrifice.

As we move deeper into the 21^st century—2024 is nearly the quarter mark– it is not at all clear that America remains the nation it once was. We still have many assets including the world’s largest economy and strongest military. But many of our countrymen are struggling. Why are so many homeless? Why are so many living with financial insecurity? Why are our cities full of crime and decay? Why are our public schools an embarrassment of overspending and underperformance? We still have the world’s biggest military and spend more on national  defense than all the other nations of the world combined. But the United States hasn’t won a military engagement since WWII.  Our armed services  can’t fill  their recruitment goals. For the first time in history,  we  can’t even control our own  borders.

Our country’s decline invites a moment of sober thought–despite spending more of our national treasure on the most advanced military technology than any other nation or group of  nations– we have lost every military  engagement since 1945.  Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, Syria and Afghanistan all ended in failure.  Our latest proxy war in the Ukraine is leaving their country in ruins and has created millions of refugees, with no end  in sight. We send billions of dollars overseas to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel,  while millions of our countrymen  can’t afford decent health care and struggle to get by. What’s going on?  What happened to America? The war dead we honor on  Memorial Day didn’t let us down. But many leaders at every level of government have let us down. We still have the vote. Why have we let them abuse our trust?

Prescott, with its large retiree population, is home to many veterans. Two of our historic cemeteries, Prescott’s Veterans Cemetery and Citizens Cemetery, both founded in 1864, are the final resting place for over 3000 of our nation’s veterans reaching back to the Indian Wars and the founding of Fort Whipple in the Arizona Territory.   Both will feature memorial services.  A Memorial Day Observance will be held at Prescott’s historic Citizens Cemetery, 815 E Sheldon Street, from 9:00am to 10:00am, on Monday, May 27th. The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors has invited the general public to attend the official ceremonies.  The Prescott  National Cemetery, 500 Highway 89  North, will hold a Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony at 11:00am.  The  ceremony will include a wreath laying and Taps.

Gravesite ceremonies honoring the valor and sacrifice of soldiers who died in war are deep in human history.  Today’s Memorial Day traces its origins to the Civil War period when women of the South began wreath laying ceremonies on the graves of Confederate dead.

Following an upsurge in patriotism and nationalist sentiments, at least in the North,  associated with the end of the Civil War, ceremonies commemorating the war dead spread throughout the country.

The Memorial Day we celebrate today was officially designated by the federal government in 1967. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, moved the date from May 30th to the last Monday in May. For many,  Memorial Day has become just another three-day weekend. The original purpose and solemnity of the day of remembrance has given way to recreation and holiday sales.

A visit to one of our country’s national cemeteries will quickly dispel any idea that Memorial Day is just another antiquated custom for veterans and aging patriots. The fresh graves from our country’s wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are reminders that American soldiers are still being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.  Arlington National Cemetery and many other national cemeteries across the country continue to open new burial sites for our nation’s fallen.  Those graves are proof, if any proof were needed,  that freedom is not free.  Our Constitutional Republic and democratic way of life are still being bought with the blood of our countrymen.  Memorial Day is the day we have set apart to remember, honor, and to mourn those who have given their lives in battle so that our country can live in freedom.

Requiescant in pace.  May they rest in peace