Memorial day

A story about the oldest remaining Pearl Harbor survivor.  I though this was pretty telling: 

About 2,000 survivors attended the 50th anniversary event in 1991. A few dozen have showed in recent decades. In 2024, only two made it. That is out of an estimated 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu that day. None made the pilgrimage to Hawaii last year.

Over at The American Catholic, there was a similar reflection on Memorial Day when thinking on that Greatest Generation and the passage of time. Other observation about Mr. Johnson that probably sums up much of that generation's tendencies: 

“I wish more people were like him today. He just gets on and doesn’t complain about anything,” said Desmond Keogh, the chairman of the parade who has accompanied Johnson. “It’s what this country was all about. They were just a different generation. They did what was best for their country.”

Each generation probably wants to be a credit to those who came before, and I'm sure the development of Memorial Day was merely a part of that process.  Whether that is what our current generation wants or cares about, I don't know.  

Nonetheless, Memorial Day is a day to ponder such thing. As a reminder, here is one way my family has done so over the years, from an old, old post.  There were many other things we did, but this came to my mind this week.