Veterans poems can teach us about healing on memorial day

What veterans’ poems can teach us about healing on Memorial Day

Memorial Day, a national holiday to honor the 1.17 million men and women who have died to create and maintain the freedoms outlined in our Constitution, is not the only Memorial Day.

Memorial Day, which falls on the last Monday in May, honors Americans who gave their lives in service. It was declared a national holiday by Congress in 1968.

The holiday emerged from the Civil War as a celebration almost exclusively for veterans of the Union Army to remember those who had died. 

In 2017, seven states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – chose to also celebrate some form of Confederate Memorial Day. 

What was originally known as Decoration Day was renamed Memorial Day in World War II and expanded to honor all Americans who lost their lives in military service. 

Memorial Day may have “official” roots honoring Union dead, but veteran poets of recent wars serving a United States have found ways to honor all those who have died in battle.

Memorial Day is often confused with Veterans Day, which falls on November 11 every year and honors those who fought in American wars and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. 

Memorial Day is often confused with Veterans Day, which falls on November 11 every year and honors those who fought in American wars and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. 

Despite Kennedy's painful memories of fallen comrades, as he stands among the long rows of graves, he finds uplift in Memorial Day.

Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a column originally published in 2017.

by James Dubinsky

Memorial Day, a national holiday to honor 1.17 million men and women who have died To create and uphold the liberties mentioned in our constitution, only Memorial Day is not there.

Vacation emerged from the civil war Almost exclusively as a celebration for veterans of the Union Army, to remember those who died. Union State veterans and their families held their own celebrations. Thus, it remains full of conflict and ambiguity.

In 2017, seven kingdoms — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia — also chose to celebrate some form of Confederate Memorial Day. Editor’s note: Three states — Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina — still had a Confederate Memorial Day on their calendars in 2022, according to the US. newsweek,

It is usually celebrated on 26 April – the day associated with the surrender General Joe JohnstonNine days after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, the end of the Civil War.

How can we overcome these deep divisions?

After serving 28 years in the US military and as a teacher and Researchers who study the roles of veterans and their families in societyI believe that poems written by veterans focused on honoring martyrs can give us a clue.

Bridging Division

There is tension between North and South. We see it not only on days dedicated to remembrance. It comes out on a daily basis in the form of communities such as new Orleans Wrestling with whether or not to place memorial statues in honor of Confederate leaders such as Robert E. Lee. Editor’s note: Lee’s idol was removed in May 2017 but the debate is over removal of federal influence Has sustained.

A poet who does not ignore these divisions is Yusef Komunyaka, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 and earned a Bronze Star. He is now a professor at New York University.

In “face it“The Vietnam War Memorial, a poem about an African-American visiting Komunyaka, confronts the wall and issues related to war and race. He writes:

“My dark face is faded/hidden inside the black granite.”

But he is also a veteran who honors those who died; He’s balancing the pain of loss with the guilt of not having the name on the wall:

“I go down 58,022 names, / expect to find half-baked names / in letters like smoke. / I touch the name of Andrew Johnson; / I can see the white glow of the booby trap.”

The poem ends with two powerful images that offer a glimmer of hope:

“The image of a white vet swims / Comes close to me, then his yellow eyes / Look at me. I’m a window. / He’s lost his right hand / Inside the stone. In the dark mirror / A female name Trying to erase : / No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.”

The image of the speaker becoming the “window” depicts how two veterinarians, one white and one black, bridge the racial divide and become connected through shared acts of sacrifice and remembrance. Yet despite such a positive affirmation metaphor, the speaker’s mind and heart are not completely at rest.

The next image creates dissonance and concern: Will the names be erased? The last line takes away that concern – the names are not being erased. More importantly, the final image of a simple act of care commemorates the sacrifices made to protect the women and children whose names are on the wall. As a result, his image in stone becomes a living monument.

memory and reflection

We can also learn from Brock Jones, an Army veteran who served three rounds of duty in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. He named his award winning book “Memorial of the Unknown Soldier“The name of a mausoleum to honor those whose graves are elsewhere. Using the name of a monument for those who do not exist, the historical ties with ancient Greece and Egypt as well as our own culture With a memorial, Brock highlights how honoring the dead extends beyond culture and country.

Jones’ poems do not focus on the social conflict on the outside, but on the inside. They address the inability of language to capture or express the loss associated with war memories. They also point to how those who have survived, especially those who have not served, can understand the depth of the sacrifice expressed by memorials and, by extension, Memorial Day.

In “Arkansas”, a poem on the Arkansas Pillar, which is one of the 56 Pillars National WWII Memorial In Washington, DC, the speaker remembers a visit with his grandfather:

“Dead eight years ago this summer / Engraved in the Atlantic Pavilion / With foreign names he never forgot. / Bastogne. / Yes, we were there. / St. Mary’s Eglise. / We were there.”

The poem ends with Grandfather described as “a humpbacked figure in front of Arkansas”. Still, in front of Arkansas. Grandfather is burdened by the memories he carries, memories that render him “still” (sedentary), memories that will “still” with him.

“Monument from a Park Bench” provides a broader perspective any visitor sitting on a bench in front of a monument can experience. To the visitor, the monument becomes “an open book”, a place where “a word loses its ability to be enveloped / trapped inside a black mirror.”

The words are “names,” which “could be lines of poems / or grocery lists. / They could be just lines.” But they are not “just lines”.

At the end of the poem, when all is considered, “Here’s the name and the black stone / And your only reflection.”

Jones transfers the emotional and intellectual burden from the person sitting on the bench to the reader of the poem and thus to the wider society. These words cannot be just lines or lists; They become monuments in a black stone, a “mirror”, a “reflection” of the reader and thus society. Everyone is framed on the bench; Names died for us, and as a result, we are.

Memorial Day and Mindfulness

Memorial Day may have “official” roots honoring Union dead, but veteran poets from recent wars who have served the United States have found ways to honor all those killed in war.

Our country may be divided, but to pause and reflect on the names inscribed on memorial walls or tombstones, everyone on the bench can see their own reflections, and President Abraham carrying on the task Lincoln mentioned in his 1865 second inaugural speech “To bind up the country’s wounds … to do everything that can achieve a just and lasting peace among themselves and with all nations.”

By being mindful, we can understand what Robert Dana, a WWII veterinarian, wrote in “At the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC”: that “These once lived theirs / Now are ours.”

What is a poem for Memorial Day?

How do you honor veterans on Memorial Day?

Why do we honor veterans on Memorial Day?

Do you honor living veterans on Memorial Day?