Memorial Day
Don’t Forget the Reason for the Holiday
About a year and a half ago, I rode through Canton, Georgia with a friend and neighbor on our way to Old Car City. As we passed the Georgia National Cemetery he asked if I minded taking a brief detour. Knowing he was a Vietnam Veteran and wanting to see this relatively new memorial, I gladly complied. The entrance road winds through about a mile of natural forest before you come to the second, and real, entrance to the cemetery.
We stopped at the welcome center and he went inside for a few minutes. When he came back out, we rode around and stopped at several of the massive fields full of markers. After a while, I realized he was looking for something specific. It was then that he showed me the piece of paper where he had written down the names of his fallen comrades from his time in the service.
We spent about an hour driving and walking through the beautiful grounds paying respects to fallen soldiers from World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and the War on Terror. It was sobering to see just how many stones there were and how much room they had left for future growth. The 775-acre national cemetery will serve veterans for the next 50…
