My Veterans Day post is obviously a bit late this year but there is a reason for that. This past week a family member and I had to take a quick trip to Virginia for a memorial service. We flew out Tuesday and attended the memorial on Wednesday with our return flight on Thursday.
Because of the way DC to California flight schedules work we ended up with a flight leaving at about 6pm on Thursday, which meant we had some free time for the day, because we did not need to be at the airport until around 3.
We’d never been to Washington before so we decided to take some time to check out the sites. We knew we would not have time to stop anywhere (and even if we did parking would have been impossible due to the holiday) so we simply drove around the national mall area seeing what we could.
It was pretty inspiring to see the Capitol Building, Supreme Court Building, Lincoln/Jefferson Memorials and the Washington Monument. We also took time to see what we could of the various war memorials, including the WW2 memorial, Korean War Memorial and so on.
As it happened, our path (purely random driving on my part) took us right in line with the bridge over the river to Arlington National Cemetery. Given the day it seemed entirely proper that we next head over there.
As you might imagine, this was one of the most crowded places we encountered so we resigned ourselves to the fact that we’d pretty much just be able to drive around without stopping. Because the site was so busy they had the Honor Guard out directing traffic and that in itself was something to see.
For those not familiar with the Honor Guard at Arlington, let’s just say that it is the ultimate in the cream of the crop, elite of the elite. They are all members of the 3rd Infantry Division, but they are very special members of that very special Division.
We had to stop several times due to traffic and were able to converse with some of the soldiers out on duty and I took the time to pay attention to the hardware on their chests.
We are talking about Airborne Rangers, Mountain Division and just about every other elite combat unit you can think of. I saw more Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars and Silver Stars that you can imagine. Clearly most, if not all of these men had been fighting for us in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And now they were spending one of the most sacred days on their calendar again serving the people, and their comrades.
I mention all of this because of what happened as we got ready to turn and drive out of the Cemetery. We stopped to check for directions with one of the soldiers, and as we always do took the time to thank them for their service and especially for what they were doing that day.
The man we thanked looked a bit stunned at our comments, so much so that his colleague (and superior) walked over to see what was wrong. We repeated our comment and his superior also looked somewhat surprised.
They told us that our words were very special to them because people had been *yelling at them and cursing them* over the fact that there was no parking.
Now I can certainly understand that a lot of emotions would be at play for anyone on grounds that day. Many were coming to pay tribute to family members, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. In many cases those family members had died in service to our country. So I can understand being upset at crowds and lack of parking.
But in the first place you would think that anyone going to Arlington on Veterans Day would assume crowds, and how could you possibly blame these brave men ? It was beyond either of us to understand and we expressed that view to the two men.
As it happened we didn’t make it very far in our efforts to get out because they had to stop traffic while the Vice President was on site, and we ended up sitting for about 45 minutes. It was a bit irritating and a matter of slight concern for us since we did have a plane to catch.
But it also provided us time to reflect. If you’ve never been to Arlington it is a awe inspiring sight. Row after row of headstones, every single one representing someone who served this country in uniform and sadly man representing someone who died in defense of our nation and it’s freedoms.
As we sat there they were completing the memorial services on site and we watched as hundreds of people walked by, many of them men and women in uniform. I felt deep awe as I realized many of them would probably be heading out to service overseas, and some would be returning to these grounds for burial.
It’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and realize how petty your own concerns are.
Indeed as much as I wish we hadn’t been stuck sitting there for the 45 minutes waiting for traffic to continue I could not help thinking that just bringing a little support to those two Honor Guard members was well worth any inconvenience we may have had.
There is actually only one regret that I have on the day. We were asked by a soldier if we had come to pay our respects to a family member and responded that we were just there to pay our respects in general.
The truth is we did come to pay tribute to family.
Every single man and woman in uniform is part of our family.
And every single one who lies at Arlington is an honored member of family.
So remember that when you see someone in uniform. Take a moment to walk up and thank them for their service.
You never know how much it might mean to them.