Prepare Yourself for Memorial Day

[May 24, 2026]  Today, Sunday, the day before Memorial Day, our Veterans ask that you prepare yourself.  Their message: remember and honor those who were lost in service to America.  This Memorial Day weekend, enjoy it because America’s bravest and finest paid the ultimate price so you could be free to do so.

A few years ago, I wrote an article giving tips to ‘properly’ observe Memorial Day, and they are as relevant today as they were then.  These “tips” will keep you from a major embarrassment.  Here they are:

1. Don’t wish others a Happy Memorial Day (“happy” is a bit of an insult).
2. It’s not a holiday. It’s a remembrance.
3. If you want to know the true meaning, visit Arlington National Cemetery or a local veterans’ cemetery, not Disneyland.
4. Attend a Memorial Day ceremony and pay close attention to what everyone is doing.
5. Say a prayer for those who have fallen.
6. Remember the fallen for all the good they did while they were here.
7. Reach out and let Veterans know you’re there; we’re losing too many in “peace.”
8. Speak their names. Do not be afraid.

I’ll provide an example of how to insult the fallen.  Below is a message from my New Jersey Senator that I received this past Friday.  His cluelessness is unbounded.

Weekly Newsletter From the Office of Senator Andy Kim: “Hey New Jersey, Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!”  This Memorial Day, we remember the heroes that fought for the freedoms we get to enjoy. As we mark the 250th anniversary of our nation, Senator Kim is reminded of how important fighting for these freedoms are. Thank you to the brave soldiers who gave their lives for them.  – U.S. Senator Andy Kim, (D) New Jersey.

“What is wrong with the message?” so many of my friends have asked.  

First, there is no HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY.  It is a time of remembrance and honor, not happiness.  Second, the day is not about BRAVE SOLDIERS.  This day includes all those who served in uniform and who have died.  Sometimes I just have to shake my head at the ignorance of our politicians.  

It is clear to me that Senator Andy Kim’s message is just a throwaway and not thought through at all.  I’m not insulted; he is just dumb.  He also needs to fix his grammar.

“When you go home, tell them of us and say.  For your tomorrow, we gave our today.” – John Maxwell Edmonds, about the fallen at the Battle of Kohima in April 1944

I often have folks say to me, “Happy Memorial Day.”  They are just not thinking.  Simple things are often misunderstood.  Memorial Day is not a happy moment.  It is a day of mourning for those who gave their lives in defense of our nation.  Full stop.  I politely educate those who do not know better. 

“Whenever I go to Arlington, it reminds me of being in the Largest Library in the world.  See in a normal city library you have isles of books that tell stories.  Some of the stories are true; some are fiction.  But in the Arlington library, aisles of white tablets standing tall and straight are telling us a story that is true, a story of why America is free.” – Joe Griffies, Vietnam Veteran

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).