Honor and Remembrance

Today is Memorial Day. There are some excellent posts on other blogs, about the subject. You might want to check out the poems at PeaceBang's blog, or the story sharing at Keep the Faith, or “Never Again… Remember Me,” at Celestial Lands.

I preached yesterday at my home congregation. It was one of the most personal sermons I’ve ever preached. I spoke of the deep ambivalence I, and I daresay many UUs, feel about war and pacifism. I walked carefully, gingerly, through the whole service, beginning with a quote from Scott Simon’s novel, Pretty Birds; continuing through two readings – Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and a prayer from UUMomma (used with her permission); through a meditation on our highest values – I said we should remember our war dead, but asked that we also remember those who weren’t in the military who called upon this country to live up to its highest ideals, those who gave their lives in the civil rights movement.

We honored the veterans by ringing a bell for each name offered by members of the congregation. We sang “This is Our Song,” and ended with the responsive reading on “The Young Dead Soldiers” from our hymnal. People embraced me afterward with tears in their eyes.

So, here’s the personal part. I talked about my father and his brothers, who served in World War II. My father and one uncle came home, though both are now deceased. One uncle never came home. My parents always said they’d never been told where he had died, where he was buried, or even an accurate date of death for him. I spoke of always wondering about him, and of weeping at the Memorial to the Deported in Paris – for my uncle and all the servicemen and women who were lost, who never made it home, who may have families who don’t know where their loved one rests.

One of our friends talked to me after the service. She said she also had a family member who didn’t come home from a war, who was listed as missing in action. Last year one of her siblings found a database with a burial listing for the two world wars and the Korean War. She said she’d send me the link.

And, now, an amazing thing has happened. My uncle, lost over half a century ago, is found. He is buried in Luxembourg. I have his date of death. I have a record that says he was awarded a purple heart. I could, conceivably, visit his grave.

I will call my brother later today, and we will figure out how to tell our mother, and our father’s remaining siblings. What a Memorial Day this is turning out to be…