Experts weigh in on how to properly remember on Memorial Day
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - According to statistics from Business Wire, cited from a USAA study, less than half of Americans know the true meaning of Memorial Day.
To Pueblo Veteran and Author Doug Sterner, the day is meant to both celebrate and remember the lives of those fallen during wartime. The author, who has published hundreds of books about veterans' lives and legacies, is an expert at remembering.
That's because he lost his best friend in the Vietnam War.
"Memorial Day is a very, very special day to me because my closest friend was killed just two months after I came home from Vietnam. Every Memorial Day, I think about him as well as a few others that were friends that I lost and others who I may not have known," Sterner said. "I have great respect for them all."
Sterner says Memorial Day is about remembering those whose lives were lost fighting wars. According to Sterner, the holiday started as "Decoration Day," and later morphed into Memorial Day.
Sterner just uncovered a story about a Pueblo Veteran who escaped a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines in 1943 in a group of a dozen soldiers.
"Paul Marshall, one of the 12, graduated from Central High School in 1935. Now, Central High School is one of only two high schools in the United States that ever graduated to Medal of Honor recipients," Sterner said.
Sterner says research is one of the best ways to remember this Memorial Day. He recommends going to a cemetery, researching a veteran who died in the line of duty, and decorating the graves of fallen soldiers as a way to celebrate.
Laurie Kuntz, the Executive Director of the Honor Bell Foundation says the same. Her foundation transports and organizes the ringing of a massive bronze bell, sounded at the funeral of Veterans. She says the day is meant for remembrance, celebrated somberly with honor for those fallen.
"Colorado Springs has a really large veteran and active duty military population, and those people know what it's about," Kuntz said. "They know what Memorial Day is. It's all the community that is learning and they're continuing to learn. We just need to keep educating them, talking to them, and saying that this is what Memorial Day is."
