Milford chronicle., 1956-05-25
MEMORIAL. DAY

MEMORIAL DAY
Memorial Day is the least festive of all
our holidays. 1t honorS and commentaries
those who have died for their country. We
assemble to pay our tribute of respect and
esteem. We decorate the graves in which
they lie. We take pride in their nobility We
cannot have joy in their sacrifice. 1t is, and
should be, solemn holiday, given over to
solemn thoughts. %ta..s, t.
The roll of our GLORIOUS dead" has
grown. They have made their contribution
to our well-being-to our very existence-on
battlefelds all over the world There was a
! time when Decoration Day. honored those
who had fallen at Chickamauga and Shiloh.
! Now it has memories of Guadalcafal Two
! Jima, Chateau Thierry, ST. Mihiel and the
Kasserine Pass. 1t is no longer sectional
celebration arising out of fratricidal strife
1t is national celebration for all who have
/ been consecrated to the nation. Y
1t comes now in period of extraordi-
nary stress and tension. We are engaged in
death battle with an opposing way of life
that threatens everything that we value and
everything for which these, our dead, have
given their lives. Next Wednesday will be
Memorial Day in Southeast Asia also 1t is
Memorial Day in Berlin. 1t is Memorial Day
in the cold stretches of the Arctic regions.
1t is Memorial Day at Geneva, and in all the
capitals of the world where we are repre-
sented and involved.
We are encompassed by great cloud of
silent witnesses. Their ghostly footballs echo
in every one of our parades. They stand be-
hind us as we speak, and write, and mourn.
We honor these heroic dead but they are still
with us. They impose upon us the obligation
so to conduct ourselves that their gift to us
shall not have been in vain.
We have need, in this hour, of their in
spiration. We have need of courage and
fidelity, of resolution and patience. These
men were brave enough to die. We must
learn to be brave enough to live. 1t is not
easy. There are few drum beats for quiet
fortitude. There is little acclaim for grim
tenacity. There is no place for false heroics
in our struggles to be and to remain free.
Our President has said that this should
be a season of prayer for peace. We echo
that faith profoundly. We hope for the time
when Memorial Day will have only an his
toric, not personally poignant, significance
We look to the age in which young men will
not have to die to preserve the liberty of
those who survive
That day is not yet. We can and must
pray for peace. We can and must do every
thing in our power to bring it to pass. But
we must also make ourselves strong and
fearless. We must make of our Memorial
Day an occasion of fresh dedication to our
good cause. We must vindcate our dead
&c@&Z
GUARANTEED CURE
This is the time of year when men who
work indoors = businessmen, merchants
teachers, doctors, lawyers, even an occa-
sional newspaper editor-feel a recurrent
yen to trade jobs with someone who earns
his living in the open air.
The victims of this malady gaze longing
ly out the window at the husky street labor
er stripped to his jeans in the warm sun:
they envy the fellow who tours the court
house lawn aboard a power mower; they
think it would be mighty pleasant to help
the nursery gang give yards the black-dirt-
and-fertiliZer treatment.
There isn't much logic in this yen. The
victims know full well, in saner moments
that they wouldn't really hand over their
office keys for chance to acquire a sore back
and callouSed hands. But the knowledge
doesn't do much about curing the disease
from which they suffer.
Happily there is a cure. Even more hap
PLY, it also performs wonders for spring
fever and winter tensions. Here it is rec
commended without qualification: Get out
doors-for picnic, drive, backyard put
tering session, or any other excuse that
comes to mind. Even in stubborn cases
where the cure doesn't work, it's fun.