Memorial Day 2024
Pardon my presumptive-ness, but I felt it was a good time to present this as a memorial tribute to dad on his 20th anniversary; a tribute to a promise he fulfilled after 59 years. The following lengthy piece is from a Memorial Day speech in 2006.
NOTE: -please remember the stats listed are from almost 20 years ago
-Photo credit: Ron Yamada
**********************************
What is Memorial Day?...to Veterans, it undoubtedly brings back memories of comrades in arms; a fellow soldier with whom one shared a foxhole, a tent, dry socks, a K-ration meal, a laugh, a letter from home, a moment of contemplation, or even a tear; it almost certainly also means remembering a brother-in-arms who is interred at a National Cemetery or a cemetery somewhere in a foreign country; a fellow soldier who did not make it home.
To families, it means paying homage to a family member who offered a life, or lived a life of serving his or her country for the freedom of others.
We as individuals and as a country are indebted to these fallen heroes.
As I look out to today’s gathering, I am honored to be standing before and addressing heroes; men and women of valor, who unselfishly offered themselves in service to the cause of freedom. Would all Veterans please stand and be recognized.
However, it seems that the true meaning of this national holiday may have been lost in the succeeding generations. To many, Memorial Day means a day off from work; a three day weekend, and statistics prove it on paper.
This weekend:
-millions of barbeque grills are being fired up
-close to 60 million lbs. of beef in the form of hamburgers, hot dogs, or steak are consumed
-37.2 million Americans plan to travel 50 miles or more from home
-many consider this the start of summer
-millions will flock to the theaters for new cinematic releases
-millions of others will flock to the beaches or mountains for a day or a weekend of fun in the sun
-there are Memorial Day “Sale-a-brations” for clothes, furniture, hardware, automobiles, jewelry, at supermarkets…I even came across special recipes for a Memorial Day barbeque.
As a consumer from Alabama said, “For Memorial Day, I want some of the world’s greatest flavors at my all-American barbeque.”
These are just a sampling of what’s happening this weekend. Is this really what Memorial Day is all about?
Are you disheartened by the direction this is going?...perhaps, because I know you’re here to observe Memorial Day for an entirely different reason.
Please allow me to tell you what else is happening this weekend.
-over 1100 lanterns will be set adrift at Magic Island tomorrow evening, this Toro Nagashi is in remembrance of those who were casualties of war. There will probably be close to 5,000 in attendance
-here in Hawaii, thousands of school children, friends and families, will pick and string thousands and thousands of flowers into lei for Memorial Day. These will be donated through the schools, A+ programs and community centers to the National Cemetery. As a side note, on Friday night here in the social hall, approximately 100 Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and their families strung over 1000 lei of flowers, crotons and ti leaves.
-nationwide, hundreds of thousands of Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Boy Scouts are on this day, placing flags and flowers, and in Hawaii’s case, lei sewn by themselves and others, on the headstones of soldiers graves at National cemeteries. This national “Good Turn” has been a tradition for decades.
-flowers are also being placed on soldiers’ graves by the American Battle Monuments Commission staff through a fund established to insure that soldiers interred in foreign cemeteries are also remembered.
Remembrance, reverence, reflection, respect…that, to me, is what Memorial Day is all about. I’d like to share with you a very short history lesson and then how two very close friends paid tribute in observance of Memorial Day…
I grew up in a plantation camp on the island of Hawaii, and attended a small plantation camp school. Whenever Memorial Day came around, I remember scouring our yard for flowers or croton leaves to string into lei which we took to school the next day. My fingers were stained brownish purple from the croton leaves, but I looked on it as a badge of distinction, something similar to earning a Purple Heart (wounded in action). I was proud, not so much that I was helping to honor soldiers, but more that I contributed to our school’s obligation. The school ended up overflowing with lei, they would then be boxed and sent to a cemetery. I didn’t really realize or appreciate at that time whose graves these were meant to decorate.
Decorate the graves…in 1868, Union General John A. Logan declared a day as an occasion to decorate the graves of Union soldiers, which became known as Decoration Day. This small movement grew as states adopted the idea and eventually Decoration Day was renamed Memorial Day. It was declared a federal holiday in 1971 by President Nixon. End of history lesson…
Jump ahead to May 2004, a few days before Memorial Day; a contingent of 442nd Veterans and families traveled to Europe to retrace a couple of battle routes in Italy and France, among them were my two friends. One of the sites they visited was the area where a battle took place that the US Army designated as one of 10 most outstanding battles in Army history. It was the site of the “Rescue of the Lost Battalion”. The Regiment suffered 800 hundred casualties to rescue a little more than 200 Texans trapped behind enemy lines. Two Companies, I and K faced direct fire from the enemy as they advanced upwards to affect the rescue. At full strength, a company hosts 200 troops…at the end of the successful rescue, 17 riflemen from K Company and 8 riflemen from I Company were left standing.
As the tour group stood on a trail looking down the slope, my acquaintance, a battlefield commissioned Lieutenant from I Company, lit senko, put his hands together in Gassho, and recited the Nembutsu. He then took out his notebook, and into the dark forest below, called out the names of soldiers in his Company that fell on that fateful mission. Subsequently, he cupped his hands over his mouth and cried, “We’re back…we haven’t forgotten you!”
Wind gently whistled through the branches and rustled the leaves as the trailing resonance of his voice dissipated into the trees; you could almost hear the report of GI’s answering a roll call.
Continuing their tour, the group’s itinerary took them to a cemetery in Florence, Italy on Memorial Day. My other friend, Ron, a son of a 442nd Veteran, followed the group as it wound its way through the rows and rows of immaculately placed, pristine white marble crosses. While impressed with the serene surroundings, something tugged at his senses, something was missing…he sensed loneliness and the absence of remembrance.
Although it was Memorial Day, only a handful of graves were seen decorated with flowers. “Have all the others been forgotten” he thought? “This is not the treatment they deserve. How can we let these brave souls know that they are worthy of tribute?” Gathering his thoughts, he knew what must be done.
Upon his return to Los Angeles after the tour, Ron began his quest. His research revealed that an organization, the American Battlefield Monument Commission, operates the overseas American cemeteries. For a fee, the staff will place floral arrangements at the graves of the soldiers buried at their cemetery. Ron then contacted family and friends through the internet telling them about his visit to the cemeteries in Europe, the results of his research and what he planned to do.
His plan, his mission was to have floral tributes placed on the graves of the fallen Nisei soldiers on Memorial Day 2005. The response however, was so great that a perpetual fund has been established to insure that Nisei soldiers interred in foreign cemeteries will always be remembered.
At that same cemetery in Florence, my Lieutenant friend sought out the cemetery director, and asked for the location of his friend’s grave. Private First Class, Tadao “Beanie” Hayashi and the Lieutenant (then a Pfc, too) became friends back at Camp Shelby where they trained for combat.
Kneeling at Beanie’s grave, he draped knitted red, white and blue lei on the cross, lit senko and placed it at the base of the cross, put his hands together in Gassho and recited the Nembutsu. He then placed a hand on the cross, and bowed his head. Only the quiet reverence of the cemetery could be heard. Looking up after a moment, with misty eyes he proceeded to speak, “This guy…”, he stammered, “…he died for me”.
Collecting himself, my friend related to his audience the events of that fateful day.
April, 1945, a couple of weeks before the end of the war in Europe:
Ordered to advance to a new position, the Lt. decided to reconnoiter the area prior to moving his detail. Although he was informed that the area was secure, he needed to be assured and decided to double check. He assigned Beanie to stay back and take charge of the replacements while he was gone. Instead of complying, Beanie requested to accompany the Lt. on his scouting mission. The Lt. refused citing that the detail was basically raw, with practically no experience; he needed someone he could trust completely to watch over the men. Beanie continued to insist and finally the Lt. relented.
A few yards apart, the two soldiers walked cautiously in a lightly wooded area. Suddenly, a single shot rang out. Instinctively, the Lt. looked over to his buddy and watched him crumple to the ground. “Beanie!” he called…no answer, again…“Beanie!...all he heard was silence. With no response, he headed back to report to the command post.
He later learned that the sniper’s shot hit Beanie in the neck, killing him instantly. Realizing that had he gone out alone, that bullet was really meant for him; the Lt. vowed to return someday and pay his respects to a brother-in-valor. He also made a promise to himself that he would honor Beanie by living their lives together. And he did, by immersing himself not only into his profession, but into his community as well, volunteering his time, energy, and skills to various community and youth organizations till the very end.
Wrapping up his account, he ended with…“Now I can die.”
With both promises fulfilled in the summer of 2004, my friend unexpectedly passed away in early fall of 2004; that friend was my dad, Sadaichi.
Both of my friends did not forget what others did for them. They each paid tribute in their own way to honor those who made the supreme sacrifice so that others may live. And we, like my friends did, must remember, too.
How will I remember Memorial Day?
As you can see, I’m dressed in a Scout uniform. Shortly following this service I will hike with Pack and Troop 49 up the hill to Punchbowl National Cemetery. Then I, along with our sons Colin, a Cub Scout and Cameron, our Boy Scout, will place flags and flower lei upon the headstones of fallen heroes. And when we’re done, we will look out over the sea of flags fluttering in the wind, smell the sweet essence of the plumeria blossoms,
…and remember.
