The Amvets Post No.18, located in Anaheim, recently presented a Memorial Day Celebration at Brookhurst Elementary School, 9821 Catherine Ave., in Garden Grove.
The Amvets Post No.18, located in Anaheim, recently presented a Memorial Day Celebration at Brookhurst Elementary School, 9821 Catherine Ave., in Garden Grove.
Colors were presented by the St. Catherine Military Academy in Anaheim.
During the ceremonies, an American flag flown over the White House in Washington D.C., was presented to the parents of SPC Christopher Fishbeck, 24, who was killed in action June 2011.
The flag was provided through Congressman Alan Lowenthal who serves West Orange County and the greater Long Beach area.
Fishbeck's parents, Gary and Ana Fishbeck, of Seal Beach, were on hand to receive the flag from Coast Guard Auxiliary past Flotilla Cmdr. John Doogan.
“Our son was a local boy, raised in Orange County all of his life," Gary Fishbeck said. "He was killed on the 6th day of the 6th month at 6 a.m., when six men died," Fishbeck said. "That was 67 years right to the hour of the invasion of Normandy, France, and our son was in the same infantry – the 1st Infantry – stationed at Ft. Riley.”
“Memorial Day is a very special holiday; it's a time for all of us to thank those veterans who gave their lives protecting our freedoms,” Doogan said.
Doogan told students that May 5, 1868, three years after the Civil War had ended, the first large observance of Memorial Day was held at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington D.C, where fallen Union and Confederate veterans of the Civil War were honored with flowers placed on their graves.
By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held throughout the United States but it wasn't until after WWI that Memorial Day was expanded to honor those who died in all American wars and in 1971, Memorial Day was declared a National holiday by Congress, celebrated the last Monday of May, Doogan said.
He went on to explain that Memorial Day is a day of flags, flowers and remembrance speeches.
"We visit memorials and monuments to honor our war veterans," Doogan said. "All across America, cemeteries are filled with headstones, Gardens of Stone, most of them marked and others marked 'unknown,' still others remain missing. They are our 'Prisoners of War' and 'Missing in Action' who have not come home to rest. Their families wait and pray for answers.”
No one values the cost of freedom more than the veterans, for they have seen their comrades give their lives for freedom.
“In times of tragedy, the question, 'Why' comes the quickest, hits the hardest and lingers the longest, yet it will never take away the pain nor minimize the loss one feels,” Doogan said.
Some question the wisdom of going into battle and for those who have lost their lives defending America and its ideals, they ask, "Was it worth it?"
Those left behind and those who have never experienced war perhaps will never comprehend what the veterans have given those who call themselves “Americans.”
There simply is not enough “thank yous” in the world for what the service men and women did and are doing daily for America and their deaths are not just their own, those deaths belong to all Americans.
“The loss of lives is what we individually make of that loss and we must give those soldiers and their families meaning and tell all generations that, 'Yes, it was worth it,’” he said.
“We are obligated to live ever day to deserve what the veterans and those currently serving do for us and for our freedom and to take action to preserve that freedom and never forget the price they have paid for all of America's freedoms.”
Doogan said that dying for freedom isn't the worst thing that could happen – it's being forgotten.
“Memorial Day is an incredible gift; a gift of freedom, a gift of peace and a gift of memories … it's a day to remember those who sacrificed the most – those men and women who gave their lives for freedom – let us never forget – they gave their tomorrows for our todays.”
