Holiday’s Purpose in Focus

Driving through small towns in the Midwest or the South on a weekend like Memorial Day brings vistas of American flags flying from nearly every home. Southern California, more spread out and with little of the small town feel, shows fewer flags and bunting.

The nagging feeling that not enough is done hereabout to provide concrete honors to the men and women who fought our nation’s wars has prompted welcome antidotes.

Two weeks ago, El Toro Memorial Park marked its eighth observance of Memorial Day with a ceremony that included a musket salute to the war dead.

One organizer of the tribute said an estimated 600 veterans, many of whom saw combat, are buried at the park. Local chapters of groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Daughters of the American Revolution helped get the annual tributes going and deserve a salute for their action.

Also worthy of tribute is Bob Kakuk, a Vietnam veteran who instigated the building of a black granite veterans’ memorial at Huntington Beach City Hall, which was unveiled on Memorial Day. Kakuk worked to get the monument built after noticing that the old memorial at City Hall listed the local dead only from the two world wars. The new monument lists casualties from the wars in Korea and Vietnam as well, 89 in all, including those missing in action.

Huntington Beach Mayor Ralph H. Bauer appropriately noted that combat veterans have come from all strata of society, from Huntington Beach to “the barrios of East L.A. . . . and the posh neighborhoods of Beverly Hills.”

The ceremonies and monuments, the music and the flags, should prompt all Americans to reflect on the reason for a holiday such as Memorial Day, dedicated to the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure freedoms most of us take for granted.

There is plenty of time for barbecues, picnics at the beach and other joys. But the recent holiday, like the forthcoming Independence Day, should also be an occasion for recalling history and teaching it to those too young to remember. Now that the summer season has been inaugurated, memorials like the one in Huntington Beach also make it easier to jog the memory throughout the year.