Memorial Day 2009: Black Dresses and Bloody Beaches

Here’s to Memorial Day…

I say, “Here’s to” Memorial Day because I just don’t think the word, “Happy” is quite the description that fits this Holiday.

Unless of course, you are all giddy about picking up a “black BCBG dress – beautiful detailing, light-weight silk for summer, and marked down from $158 to $79...” at the incredibly solemn, Macy’s Memorial Day Sale!!

If that’s the case…be as happy as you want on this day.

Anyhoo, to wit, and heretofore…(I dig saying that.)

I offer to you, a simple Memorial Day post today, along with the hopes that you enjoy the day and enjoy it safely.

My dad served in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1945. He served aboard a munitions ship in the Pacific. He served with honor and distinction…as did so many others during World War II.

In spite of all of the death and destruction that occurred during the Big One, my dad had a somewhat funny tie to the war.

While on a short leave, he married my mom. The date? August 6, 1945. Uh-Huh…The day that we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.

His leave was made permanent, and their marriage lasted through nine kids, and 53 years until his death in 1998.

Here’s a picture of Jack and Mary Anne from that era…

My dad saw many things during the war that stuck with him and which he ultimately wrote about in his poetry.

One of the bloodiest battles he was engaged in, was the Battle of Tarawa. He wrote the following poem, Tarawa, and it appeared in his second book, “Credo”.

Tarawa
misbegotten
pin-point in history;
what angry god
was mid-wife to your birth;
what ancient sun
saw you rise
from the ocean floor?

Decades ago,
on a blood red sea,
I watched
as you were ravished
and stripped naked
and in return,
you became a parched grave
for five thousand men.

Never for them
the solace of the rich earth.
nor the kiss of Spring;
only the sharp coral, and the eternal sun.

Do you hate them still?

--JJM ©1981

Here’s to your safe enjoyment of Memorial Day, and to Vinny and Jay, I hope you both find sexy dresses that scream, “Look at me guys!!” when you go to Macy’s today.

Cheers!!