Memorial Day arrives May 27th.

Once again, we must suffer the unintentional wince-inducing greeting from many who will utter, “Happy Memorial Day.”

Not appropriate.

We don’t “celebrate” the painful loss of our patriots. We respect them. Active memories cause many to still grieve over these loved ones. We honor them. Many are heroes. And worthy of our tributes.

It’s been an ongoing tradition for Rhonda (my wife) and I to make a visit to a local cemetery each Memorial Day. Some are more “local’ than others. We seek out graves with flags and those we can locate who likely died in conflict. War is the harder word.

Again, true patriots.

A couple of years ago, we sought out Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery located south of Joliet in Elmwood. It’s the newest of our 117 national cemeteries. Dedicated on October 3, 1999, Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery is a massive site.

When fully developed, this 982-acre cemetery will provide 400,000 burial spaces. It might well be our future resting place!

The grounds are host to special Memorial Day events, of course. A huge team of volunteers rise early and place flags on all the grave sites — and remove them by the next day. It’s a stunning display of red, white, and blue.

While it wasn’t a Memorial Day visit, one of saddest cemeteries I’ve seen was the Vicksburg National Cemetery in Mississippi. It was established in 1866 with interments beginning a year later, making it one of the first national cemeteries in America. Interestingly, it’s the largest Union cemetery in the nation.

More than 17,000 troops are buried there and of these burials, the identity of almost 13,000 soldiers and sailors is unknown. The vast majority of these underground warriors were young men. Very young men.

The American Revolution pitted our own countrymen against one another in what is termed the First Civil War. One of those competing factions were known as The Patriots. (The movie …The Patriot starring Mel Gibson sheds some light on this.)

In our next Civil War, “patriotism” took on a more challenging perspective. The war between the states witnessed major battles between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America (CSA). The CSA was  comprised of eleven southern states that left the Union in 1860 and 1861.So we might say each side had their “patriots.”

This now begs the question, so what IS a “patriot?” Ask your Oxford Dictionary and you’ll learn it’s “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.” So how does this play out in our world today? The times have changed. I’ll explore this more deeply as we approach Independence Day.

I do know this. The people who serve our country to defend it should be people of character. And they ought to commit to values including duty, honor, and country.

Things the Army has apparently lost some sight of.

You see, earlier this year Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth announced that these values that shaped West Point’s excellence for decades were perhaps a bit too stuffy and conservative. And so they were replaced.

For comparison sake, see for yourself what was approved by Secretary Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Randy George:

Previous mission statement:

“To educate, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country, and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the United States Army.”

New Mission Statement:

“To build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of professional excellence and service to the Army and Nation.”

“Duty. Honor. Country.”

This phrase was highlighted in a famous speech by General Douglas MacArthur in 1962. Apparently, such wording is now “dated.”

Any real patriot has to know that another word stands fast in their values: sacrifice. Memorial Day recognizes the supreme importance of that gift of sacrifice from our fallen service members.

Jesus of Nazareth knew the importance of sacrifice. He lived it. He taught it, saying…“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, ESV)

Often, that life is given for millions of unknown countrymen.

And that is why we pay a Memorial Day tribute to the patriots who lie underground.