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Fewer than a thousand Delawareans
bothered to observe Memorial Day and
that is a generous estimate which
includes those who participated in
some related activity on the ersatz
holiday two days earlier.
Adjutant general Frank Vavala told a
sparse crowd attending the
traditional memorial service at the
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conclusion of the
140th annual parade in Wilmington that he was
"disappointed by the indifference of a majority of
Americans."
That is particularly
appalling at a time when U.S. troops are fighting
and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As Vavala noted,
relatively few civilians are personally affected by
those engagements and the American public has not
been required to make any sacrifices or adjustment
in the course of daily life.
Interestingly enough,
the contingent representing Pacem in Terris, a
pacifist organization, were applauded as they passed
the reviewing stand carrying posters calling for the
troops to be supported by being brought home from a
senseless war. In past years those marchers were
greeted with boos.
Wilmington has the
distinction of being one of the few places where May
30 has been observed as |
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Edith O'Brion
(in white uniform), vice chair of the Wilmington
Memorial Day Committee, receives a floral wreath to
place at the base of Soldiers & Sailors Monument.
Members of the Newark High School Junior R.O.T.C.
form the honor guard. |
a day
of remembrance of those who have
fallen in defense of the nation
since it was proclaimed as a
perpetual memorial in 1868 while the
wounds of Civil War were only
beginning heal. General John Logan
and other officers of the Grand Army
of the Republic did not want the
restored republic to forget.
Only
the efforts of an intrepid band of
men and women who have voluntarily
assumed the obligation to do so have
made that so over these many years.
Would
that federal and state governments
return Memorial Day to its rightful
place on the calendar and thereby
rekindle the patriotism and
gratitude originally
intended. That needs be done before
even the small degree of remembrance
which remains is lost in the swirl
of misguided priorities.
If
there needs to be a
beginning-of-summer holiday we
suggest adopting the custom of our
Scandinavian forebear and establish
it to coincide with the actual
beginning of the season.
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Once again the General Assembly
has refused to enact even a minimal ban on using a cellular
telephone while driving. That is despite the fact that the toll
of death, injury and property damage as a result of avoidable
collisions is at crisis level. Why can't tiny Delaware take a
recognized significant step in beginning to cope while New York,
among others, manages to do so quite well?
We hope that Representative Joe
Miro persists in his efforts to address a problem which affects
all of us until more than a minority of his colleagues give up
their legislative inattentiveness and face up to their
responsibility.
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