There have been lots of casualties in the fight against COVID-19 but, fortunately, Memorial Day was not one of them.
While observances were muted in the Rockdale area, they were personal and much appreciated. Thanks for taking time to honor heroes.
Speaking of which, the information in this editorial comes from U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, decorated Army veteran (including the Bronze Star).
Sen. Cotton served in Iraq and Afghanistan and also was a member of “The Old Guard.”
That’s the oldest active duty regiment in the Army, dating back to 1784, which makes it three years older than the Constitution. It was given that nickname in 1847 by Gen. Winfield Scott.
Among the Old Guard’s duties are to conduct military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, sometimes up to 20 in one day.
Everyone gets the same, whether they are a president or a private. It’s serious business. Every hero of Arlington has a few moments with soldiers who delivers a powerful message to the dead and living alike: “you are not forgotten’.”
They mean it. Oh, how they mean it. Those burial services don’t stop for anything. That’s anything.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the Old Guard’s 9 a.m. burial was underway when the plane slammed into the Pentagon. Members of the Old Guard’s medical platoon rushed to assist. But the 9 a.m. burial went on as scheduled.
So did the 10 a.m. and the 11 a.m. Over the next month, as hundreds of Old Guard members pulled duty at the Pentagon and World Trade Center sites, funerals never stopped.
Funerals continue in driving rains, blizzards and 100-degree heat. Even when weather shuts down the cemetery to the public, the funerals continue. They are considered a “no-fail, zero defects” mission.
One Old Guard member, a five-time combat veteran, told Sen. Cotton “I’ve never experienced pressure like this anywhere else in the Army,” then added “I know this sounds crazy.”
“Not to me and not to those soldiers,” Cotton wrote.
In 2018, The Old Guard dedicated 27 more acres of the cemetery by laying to rest two unknown Civil War veterans whose remains were recently discovered on the battlefield of Second Bull Run.
It was a poignant moment. Historians believe those two soldiers may have died during a Union assault in the battle’s third day. That’s an assault in which The Old Guard participated.
Sen. Cotton related an experience told to him by Sgt. Major of the Army Dan Dailey, who once escorted a foreign military leader through Arlington, explaining what The Old Guard does.
The two men stood looking out at the rows upon rows of headstones. After a long silence, the visitor said:
“You take better care of your dead than we do our living.”
We try. And we all should try to remember them. And not just on the last Monday of May.—M.B.
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