Memorial Day 2020

Dawn found me at the small cemetery across the street from Erskine Academy with fresh cut lilacs from my garden. This neatly manicured resting place is sacred ground for the Mosher Family as it cradles the remains of many of my fore bearers including my beloved grandfather Charles Henry Mosher and his brethren from the Greatest Generation.

The chill fog illuminated by the dawn hung over the stones, row on row, and the neatly placed American flags beside each veteran’s resting place. The stones marking our family name and each generation of service lay before me as I bowed in silent prayer remembering each soul, the warmth of their spirits lingering in my heart. Their names were familiar; Charles, Helen, Richard, Peggy, Preston, Annie and so many more. Of course, I knew them as Grampy, Grammy and the other familial terms of endearment. Their collective service to this great country, to which I am their legacy, is humbling especially considering the weight of the task their lifetimes carried…the World Wars, economic Depressions, true pandemics along with the trials and tribulations of this surely life, which they bore with both honor and grace despite poverty, uncertainty, loss and the labor of their professions. Their fortitude leaves our current travails a poor comparison less we forage forward with the same sense of purpose and urgency.

My heart grieves for the simplicity and stalwart honor of those who placed God before Country and Country before family and family before self. The truly were the Greatest Generation, defined by the weight of the times and challenges placed before them as with each generation in American history. As we pause today to remember those who joined them in perpetuity let our generation put our shoulders to the wheel before us now that we may be defined with similar affinity and honor.

With my prayers ended and lilacs placed on each stone, I departed to return to my home and place my flags at have mast before sitting fireside to pen this entry. My house is still sleepy, save the company of my sweet Annie Kitty, a snapping fire and a warm coffee. Bless you, dear fallen. My sweet friends and soldiers, and your families and loved ones. You are not forgotten, and so very much loved and appreciated as you rest in the arms of our Savior.