Memorial Day

Arm Update: I was very disappointed to find out that, instead of doing amazingly well, I now have encapsulation of the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Our hospital just reopened their physical therapy department and I am one of the first customers. I have a feeling this might have been avoided if I had gone a month ago instead of being "on my own". Darn that Rona!

Home School Update: We traveled on our first "home school" field trip on Friday for Memorial Day. Field trips are a little tricky in the current environment. We wanted to be close enough to home in case anyone needed a restroom. We wanted to travel to a location where we would not encounter other people. And, unfortunately, we do not feel comfortable standing in carry out lines for ice cream. No one seems to be respecting others by wearing a mask and no one seems to be able to estimate six feet for social distancing. 

Our first stop was a drive by to my country church cemetery. I showed the grandchildren/students the bronze plaque on the back of my parent's stone and explained about my father's military service in Korea. We looked around the cemetery at all the veterans graves, marked on the back with plaques and talked about how this year the American Legion had already put out flags for each person without the usual well attended ceremony. 

We drove down the road to a neighboring village which has a small park in front of their Catholic Church. All the monuments honor war veterans. The students are posing in front of the Civil War monument which lists citizens who served on the reverse side. Those who lost their lives in the war are marked with stars. This will be true on all monuments. 

World War I.  Every year the village hosts a Memorial Day parade with marching boy scouts, girl scouts, 4-H clubs and a large contingent of decorated bicycles. All participants end up at the park where the American Legion distributes popsicles. This year the parade was cancelled. 

World War II. My uncle Del's name is on this list and my dad's name is on the plaque of the fundraisers on the right. There are also two soldiers with my maiden name marked with stars. I will need to research this list. 

Korea. This one has my dad's name (their great grandfather). He was awarded 4 bronze stars, but made it home. One of the people marked with the stars was a female nurse from the village. Although I don't think she is a family member, I will be researching this brave lady, too. 

Vietnam. That is a lot of names for such a tiny village. I can't pick out stars, but I remember seeing them. 

Had to drag the students away from this.  They were full of questions about all the monuments and the first grader can read the names.  They were both appalled to find out that we still have active military serving in dangerous circumstances overseas. The whole Korean Conflict may require some age appropriate books.  

When we came home, they helped me put my row 24" flags along our landscaping.