Memorial Day 2009

"‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance."

Exodus 12:14

If you've read my previous post on Memorial Day ("May We Never Forget...") than you will know that we went to the Virginia War Memorial on Memorial Day this year. Most of the time we've just had a cookout (we still did after the service) at someone's house but we wanted to try and do things a little different this year. Mama had us research different events that would be going on on Memorial Day and I (Kimber) looked up a couple sites and the war memorial was the best option. They had a service from 10:00 A.M - 12:00 if I remember correctly. We arrived there about 15 minutes early and I went around and took pictures until they started. Paw-paw and Na-naw came too.

Some flowers that were on a wreath (they had a wreath-laying ceremony).

The statute on the far right they called "The Shrine of Memory." The clear walls on the far left have the names of all the soldiers who died in various wars and their virginia counties they were from. All together there are 11,634 names on the marble and glass walls; all of which are Virginian's who died to keep us free.


A close-up of the Shrine of Memory and a rose.

We live in King William County, and that is why I took this picture.

Caleb during the ceremony.

(He doesn't like me taking pictures of him, hence the hand over his face)

A veteran in the audience.

We were surprised to see so many people there to honor those who have and are serving our country. There were people standing everywhere.

This lady sung a song.

This was the main announcer.

The service went very well. They had about 4-5 different people talk or sing and the mention of God was everywhere in their speeches and how we need to take accountability of our sins, repent, etc. It was very inspiring with the exception that Jesus' name was never mentioned - only God. Not that God is bad (not at all!) but people would probably get instantly offended (Matthew 11:6) if "Jesus" was mentioned, so the speakers stayed "political."

After the ceremony, they had the wreath-laying ceremony at which they positioned the wreaths all around the "Shrine of Memory." Someone was pronouncing each wreath, what it represented, etc. and the carrier.

I just thought this veteran's facial-expression was funny! :)

Carrying a wreath.

I just had to put this one up here! :)

A smiley veteran!

Ah - a Marine! :) (The one in the red suit)

(Inside joke - ask my family if you want to know!)

They (there were 2) were carrying the wreath down the walkway and they did one of their marine grunts (which sounded like "oo-rah" to me) about half-way down. It was really neat - they were my favorites!

They had the most beautiful music done by bagpipe-players, drummers, etc. there in full attire. The leader of the "band" (the one in the middle of the picture) we had seen at Mrs. Heather's wedding. They played T.A.P.S and Amazing Grace.

I took a video of them but it's cut a little short because I was running out of memory space (and a couple other reasons), but at least you get the point! Please forgive my horrendous video skills, I was enjoying their music, so I wasn't paying a lot of attention - just listen to the music and all will be well! :)

Here's the video (it may not have uploaded, so it may not be here):

After the ceremony, we (our family and Paw-paw and Na-naw) went to my great-grandparents gravesite (Forest Lawn Cemetery). My 2 Great-Grandpa's are buried there along with one of my Great-Grandma's (a.k.a Great), all of which are my grandparents (Paw-paw and Na-naw's) parents.

This is Paw-paw's parents gravestone.

I have no memories whatsoever of Na-naw's or Paw-paw's dad but I remember lots about his mother, whom we called Great. She's the one who started the entire "Nash Luncheon" thing. Every Sunday she'd prepare a meal for all the Nash's (by herself) and clean it up. She always gave us a couple of jellybeans before we left and a card at Christmas.

Alexis, Daddy, and Seth walking around the cemetery.

While we were there, we went ahead and read our Memorial Day Papers starting from youngest to oldest. We (those who were eligible enough to participate) each had a project that we had to complete by Memorial Day and everyone's project was different.

Seth's project was to draw a picture of something that had to do with Memorial Day. And he drew a picture of the scene where we get the National Anthem from.

Caleb had the job of writing up something about a national cemetery. He picked Arlington National Cemetery.

Alexis' project was to write up the history of Memorial Day.

The intent listeners.

Me (I really don't like this picture...).

My job was to pick a hero to recognize on Memorial Day. I picked Michael Fleming Foland. Please click on the link and read his story (the citation is the best). He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor (highest military award) posthumously. I cried on the last 2 sentences of my report (I think most everyone else did too). It's just amazing what others do to protect us and their fellow brothers in their unit, even at the sacrifice of their life. No one will ever be able to repay them.

Hannah's letter was on the history of Memorials in the Bible.

Everyone's report was very interesting, and I'll try and get them all up here, Lord willing.

After our reports were read we went to Paw-paw's house and had a small cookout (that was very yummy!) and some strawberry angel food cake. Yum!

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Striving to be like Jesus,

Kimber :)