Memorial Day Volunteers
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating the Spirit of America
By Arthur Wiknik, Jr.

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.
~Francis A. Walker

My small town of Haddam, Connecticut has been commemorating Memorial Day with a parade and ceremony since the 1800s when the occasion was known as Decoration Day. Our event has always been organized by a team of veterans who, as they aged, passed the task on to the next generation of warriors. However, after the Vietnam War ended, the number of those serving in the military dramatically shrank, leaving us with fewer veterans to continue the tradition. With a diminished volunteer pool, one stalwart veteran took sole charge for a twenty-year period.

Eventually, by the mid-1990s, the observance had become stale and uninspired, primarily due to our speakers having difficulty appreciating the significance of the day. Attendance was suffering as well. (Keep reading)