Memorial Day : Remembering Those Who Served So That We Are Free Americans

Fallen Acorns takes on a new meaning for this blog today.  Normally I post about someone who has a tragedy in their life, or some sort of death has occurred that is of  unusual circumstances.

Memorial Day started as a time when this nation of ours remembered their family members, neighbors and friends who gave selflessly to serve our country at a time of war.  Those that lost their lives while serving in the military are special.  They left their homes and never returned.  Those that came back home had scars....some are seen, and many are not seen.  Scars can lurk in  the minds of those who returned with unspeakable horror etched in their memories. The Veteran's Administration was established to help those who returned home, and the families of those who did not.  The remains of the deceased were buried overseas, and many were shipped home to the families a few years after the war, so that they could be laid to rest on American soil.

Today, I wanted to focus on how our nation kept it's citizens informed of these special soldiers and their status during World War II.  I searched The St. Louis Post-Dispatch issues dated during the 1940s to experience how the journalists wrote about the lives of the soldiers that had homes in and around the city.  Searching Newspapers.com, it was not hard to find page after page of stories and articles that must had kept the news writers busy, days on end.

5 December 1944, St. Louis Post Dispatch, page 6, www.newspapers.com, accessed 27 May 2016

Can you imagine opening your newspaper to view photographs of young soldiers from your neighborhood with their status noted under their names:  Dead, Missing, Prisoner, Wounded....

This is what our nation went through during World War II.  Photos of fresh young faces with their unfortunate status printed below them.  It must have been very depressing for everyone.  That war had affected almost every household.  Everyone knew someone who was serving this nation of ours during a time when we did not have these weapons that could be implemented with remote controls and precision targeting.  This was a war the no one wanted to see repeated.

This Memorial Day weekend, take some time away from the backyard grill.  Visit a church service, a veteran cemetery, anything that makes one remember exactly why we celebrate our heroes.  Look at the faces of these soldiers and say a prayer that their suffering was not in vain, and their courage was exceptional in the eyes of the terror of their time.  We have much to be thankful for.  Let's start with a thanks to these guys.

AncestorStuff.com is offering a special FREE SHIPPING event to anyone who would like to read about our military and the wars of our nation.  Buy 3 items from the MILITARY catalog section at www.AncestorStuff.com, and they will be shipped free. Offer expires 13 June 2016.