On a crisp springtime morning at the Alexandria National Cemetery, about 60 people gathered in the assembly area to remember those who have served in the armed forces — and those who continue to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq. The American Legion's service, which lasted about an hour, included speeches, a ceremonial laying of the wreaths and a bugler.
In the speeches at the ceremony and in conversations afterward, the subject of war weighed on the minds of those assembled. As America engages in a conflict with distant and shadowy enemy, veterans young and old asked that Memorial Day be a time for remembering sacrifices that have been made and service that is now being performed.
THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER was Real Admiral Edward Walker, who reminded the audience that wars spill the blood of youth. He recalled the teenagers in Alexandria who took on the mighty British Empire, the young men on both sides of the Potomac who fought each other for what they thought was right during the Civil War, and the generations who answered the call to war.
"Our greatest generation is now leaving us," he said. "But before that generation had finished its business, a new challenge has threatened the next generation with a tyranny just as vicious."
Walker said that Americans who are serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are now engaged in a battle that is as noble as World War II and as important as the Civil War. He encouraged the audience — mostly members of the American Legion —to honor the dead by remembering the living, the men and women who protect the homeland from distant battlefields.
"In America, we always want to play an away game," he told the crowd. "But we now know, at least partially, what it would be like to play a home game."
He praised the young men and women who are now engaged in combat, noting that the average age on an aircraft carrier is 19. He invoked the men who fought in several wars, even the Confederate dead who were once buried at the national cemetery but moved to Christ Church because of lingering hostility between the blue and the gray.
"Thank you to all who have ever served, regardless of what generation," he concluded. "Thank you for preserving life, freedom and our human dignity."
American Legion member William McNamara spoke to honor America's participation in several wars.
"Since the dawn of history, mankind has yearned to be free," he said. "We've become known as a nation of freedom fighters, but we quickly learned that freedom is not free."
A bell from a decommissioned naval vessel was rung to commemorate several conflicts: the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iranian hostage situation, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq.
AFTER THE NAME of each conflict was read, the bell tolled to remember the war dead. But when Iraq was mentioned, the bell skipped a beat — ringing immediately, almost before the word was fully enunciated. More than 1,300 Americans have died fighting in Iraq, and as the insurgency there rages members of American Legion Post 24 wanted to make sure that people remember those who are now living in the midst of war.
"They are fighting a kind of enemy that we are not accustomed to dealing with," said Nancy Farrington, commander of American Legion Post 24. "Only the oppressors are the ones who do not want us there."
Farrington said that Saddam Hussein represented a threat to American security.
"You cannot undo the decades that it took to get Iraq to its current shape in a short period of time," she said. "People there see that a difference is being made. The citizens of Iraq want freedom — they want to govern themselves — but they needed help getting there, and we were there to give them moral support."