05/25/2026
💛 🇺🇸 🙏🏻
Memorial Day is upon us again. As we join you all in reflecting on the spirit of the day, I'd like to share thoughts from my father. He has a perspective that I cannot give myself and I find the words more poignant than what I have.
WHAT MEMORIAL DAY MEANS TO ME.
Command Sergeant Major, Retired, Michael T. Hall
It is wonderful that Memorial day is now and has recently received the recognition and honor it deserves for what it means to our nation and really, the entire world.
I mention this because there was a long period of time, where the meaning, and i think the relevancy, of memorial day waned. In the past, memorial day commemorated meaningful, important conflicts that were directly tied to the survival our nation – conflicts like the Civil War, WWI and WWII. These events directly affected virtually every single American – and in the end the good guys won. Everyone could agree on that.
Then we had a couple of other major events, our unsuccessful, and ultimately unpopular involvement in Korea and Vietnam. These conflicts did not have the survival of the nation at stake-- at least in the majority of Americans minds, and so the American people did not see that the sacrifice, both in terms of human life, ours and our enemy’s in some cases, let alone our treasure was worth it, and this turned into political turmoil, with Soldiers and veterans caught in the middle.
I think part of it was really frustration that the greatest nation on earth, didn’t win quickly and get it taken care of. How could we win WWII, and not beat tiny North Korea or a bunch of unorganized guerrillas in Vietnam. I think people thought that somehow, our soldiers had changed, and in many ways did not represent us, or the best in us, anymore, how else could we explain the failure?
I will say unequivocally that soldiers, and their values hadn’t changed, but many people’s perceptions of them did. Actually, i would like to say that again. Soldiers and their values did not change, but many people’s perceptions of them did.
And so the American people moved on.
Even the horror’s and sacrifice tended to be put out of our forefront. The veterans keep their experiences to themselves. They either wouldn’t, or in most cases couldn’t talk about them, and if they did, people that had not been there, just could not fathom it. Some tried to relate, some even empathized – but they simply could not understand.
They say the mind cannot truly recreate actual pain, either physical or mental, if it could, and when it does, that is when people go insane.
So it was and is impossible to explain it to others, so they quit trying, most really did not want to be reminded, and the vets hoped to forget.
I think that was very much the case in 1976 when i was graduating high school in Avon Lake, Ohio. The Vietnam war didn’t personally touch me, in fact, it didn’t personally touch anyone in Avon Lake, there were some guys in neighboring towns that were killed over there, and your could find a mention in the paper, if, you read all the paper. But it certainly was not an event that gathered interest and attention. As a matter of fact, many Vietnam and Korean veterans were not made to feel welcome in even many of our veterans organizations, let alone mainstream America.
There were opportunities for me, and my peers when i graduated.
• I think i could have played college football, except for one thing, I wasn’t good enough.
• Because of money, college was not an option, but, it also was not a big deal to go to college.
• We had U.S. Steel, Ford Motor Company, etc, lots of people spent their entire lives there and lived really comfortably.
• They were still hiring in my part of the state. Even Cleveland was still growing to meet the labor demand.
• But, I went into the service, the military, the army.
Later in my career, i was asked many times why I joined the military, the army. I would always correct them and let them know I did not join the army, I went into the service. I think that is a significant change, that happened, again slowly, but came with the advent of the all volunteer force. The professional force served, and they are sometimes still referred to service members, but, the meaning had really changed, it was no longer looked at as a sacrifice.
But I really never had a good answer for why I joined. It was just what I and many others like me, to include my future wife, did where I grew up. You went to school, and when you graduated, you went into the service. My step dad did, my uncles did, and the generation before that did. You served your hitch, then you came back and went to school or got a job somewhere, and you got on with your life. There was just an unwritten rule and an unspoken expectation that it was important to serve.
The service was not about learning a skill, or becoming financially secure, that for sure, that’s for dang sure, because we were still paid “draftee” salary, even though we were now a “professional” force. Nobody went in with the idea that it would be a career, some officers yes, but not the rank and file.
So what did Memorial day mean to me when I joined? I can tell you it meant that the pool was going to open as well as the amusement parks at Geauga Lake and Cedar Point. There were no celebrations, or remembrances that drew crowds. I am sure the VFW and the Legion had events, but, those were “private.” There were not, not that i can recall anyway, any TV specials or big spreads in the Lorain Journal. I just don’t recall it being a revered and solemn day, it was just an day off from school or work and marked the start of summer.
This was also a time, where you were not encouraged, and in many cases forbidden to wear your uniform off post, in public. You didn’t wear your uniform home on leave, it was not common to even be married in uniform. Brenda and i were married in 1978, when I was now a Sgt, in the best, the most elite organization in the army, the Rangers, and it never crossed my mind to wear my uniform, my uncle’s, my father-in-law, the men in my family, no one asked why are you not wearing your uniform. These men were all Korea and Vietnam vets.
But things slowly started to change, really in the early 1980’s. Most of the highest leadership in the military and the politicians that were connected in some way to the war in Vietnam moved on.
The military, started to be looked on as a “career” where you could live a decent life and learn job skills that would transfer, but, it wasn’t a place that you thought about getting killed, it wasn’t billed as a place where sacrifice was talked about, it became, “the military”. Inside, it was still “the service”, but it was not looked at like that by the American public.
President Reagan boldly told us we were strong and we were good, and that there was evil in the world. He told the Soviet’s to “tear down the wall”, no more compromise, he literally put our money where his mouth was for the first time since the end of WWII. He put our ineptness of Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs, the failed Iranian hostage rescue mission behind us. He invaded Grenada, to show the Cubans we were still in charge; he started paying the military a wage that started attracting quality people.
But i think the major event, in bringing back the memory and importance of memorial day happened on June 6th, 1984. President Reagan went to Point Du Hoc in Normandy and revived our pride and accomplishments.
He said:
“The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers on the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades.
And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here.
After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.
Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.
These are the boys of Pointe Du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
He continued
We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars: it is better to be here ready to protect the peace than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent”. End quote
Those men, the bravest of the brave, cried in public, and we cried with them, and at the same time, we regained our strength and pride.
We started wearing our uniforms in public again. We took pride in the men and women that fought the Vietnam war, Vietnam vet license plates and hats became popular, former service members started putting it on their resume that they had served, My uncle Pat, was one of them, heck, now we had a problem with people that were not vets, pretending to be.
We overthrew an evil dictator in Panama, we freed the tiny country of Kuwait, the Wall fell.
Then, 9/11 happened, it now brought all of us together, it was another event that, at least figuratively, affected every American.
Our commitments to Afghanistan, Iraq and many other places continue. We do not all agree with the need, the desired outcome or the politics of these engagements.
But what we all agree on is that the values of the soldiers that are serving today hasn’t changed from those that served at point de hoc….
We all agree they deserve our support.
We all agree that it is a big deal when one of them is injured or killed, and it is front page news, and, continuing coverage in the local paper. Where I live now, in Maury County, TN, we lost a young marine fighting in Afghanistan, a couple of years ago. It was front page news, for two weeks, all agreed that he was the best of us. Every thing in the town stopped when he came home, in his honor, his wife and his son, born one week after he was laid to rest, will always be taken care of, LCPL Andrew Carpenter will be remembered right alongside Pharmacist Mate 1st Class John Harlan Willis, Navy Corpsman, Medal of Honor, February, 1945, Iwo Jima, fellow son’s of Maury County.
That is what Memorial day has become, again.
Remember, don’t thank me for my service on this day, I’m alive. But remember and respect those that never made it back. That’s what Memorial Day has always been about.
