Memorial Day Shouldn’t Be Commercialized
By Bob Small
Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May, to honor US Troops who have died in service. Its original name was Decoration Day. Waterloo, N.Y. claims to be the first locale to observe Decoration Day on May 5, 1866. though other areas also claim that honor. The mutation to “Memorial Day Sales”, can only be seen as a function of American Capitalism and a betrayal of its original intent.
See below for some related websites, including one Joe Biden invention.,
https://www.veteransforpeace.org Home | Veterans For Peace
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Memorial Day 2023 | Vietnam Veterans of America
We may just want to examine how often there are needless fatalities during war.
One of the best movies about this, which we just recently screened –we’ll miss Netflix DVD when it goes — was Tora! Tora! Tora! from 1970.
This under-appreciated movie clarifies that not all in the Japanese government agreed with the idea of attacking Pearl Harbor.
It notes that U.S. decision makers were more afraid of sabotage than a military attack.
It points out the a tactical mistake of moving US Fleet from the relative safety of San Diego to Pearl Harbor.
This, like many bad decisions were made by the FDR Administration without consulting the major players in the Navy. This lack of communication between the White House and the Military seems not to have an end date
Then there was the decision to leave the planes on the ground and others.
For a good summation of all these points, and many more, go to the trivia section of the IMDB Website on this movie.
As a comparison, to how we handle the day to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, Russia had it’s annual Victory Day celebration on May 9;
They don’t seem to have any “Victory Day Sales”, or start any vacations at their “Black Sea”shore which granted might be problematic at this time, but they do remember their losses in World War 2.
Maybe they have the right idea.
