On Monday, May 28th, the United States observed the Memorial Day holiday.  This popular holiday is supposed to be a day to remember those who have given their lives in military service to the nation.  It was instituted in 1868 to honor those who died in the bloody American Civil War, but was expanded to include those who were lost in later wars, particularly the two World Wars.

Traditional ways to observe the day included wearing red poppies and going to cemeteries to place flags and flowers at the graves of those who died in war.  Communities used to hold parades and have special events to mark the day.

But in the fleeting attention span of the American public - beginning in the early 1970s - all of this has virtually disappeared.  With the National Holidays Act, passed by Congress in 1971, Memorial Day was moved from its traditional date of May 30th to the last Monday of the month, ensuring that there would always be a three-day weekend for Americans to enjoy.  And as they spent the three days relaxing from work, they progressively forgot about the meaning of the day.

Except for a few veterans groups who still remember the horrors of war and their lost comrades, few Americans pay notice to the real meaning of Memorial Day.  For most Americans, it is just a convenient long weekend to mark the beginning of the summer vacation season.  Many people plan outings to nice recreation spots, or have get-togethers with family and friends.  But they don’t honor the veterans or remember their sacrifices; they just enjoy having an extra day of leisure at the beginning of summer.  Americans don’t seem interested in thinking much about what the day means.

I was really struck by this several weeks ago when I was fortunate to witness the celebration of Victory Day in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 9th.  This day commemorates the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies (including the United States) over the fascist forces of Nazi Germany in the Second World War (called the Great Patriotic War here).  More than 60 years later, and a decade and a half since the fall of the Soviet Union, this day is still richly celebrated in cities and towns across Ukraine, Russia and other countries of the former USSR.  The point of the day is to celebrate the victory and also to honor the men, dead and living, who fought to protect their homeland, as well as the civilians who died or were left with horrible memories of war.

There were tens of thousands of people gathered in Kharkiv’s main square (the largest in Europe) in the morning to celebrate the day.  In the center of the square, various military units were lined up in formation to be reviewed by honored officers who had served in the Patriotic War.  These were surrounded by thousands of citizens - so many, in fact, that it was nearly impossible for us to get a good look at the ceremonies taking place in the center.

After several exhibitions of precision drills, the veteran officers rode down the center of the formation standing in an open car, saluting the troops and receiving salutes in return.  After this, there was a parade from the square into the street by precision military units, military vehicles from the 1940s and, most important, groups of surviving war veterans.  They were happily celebrated by the crowds, and with warm smiles they returned their appreciation to young and old alike.

All around the square and elsewhere in Kharkiv, veterans and civilians who experienced the war mingled with the younger generations.  In keeping with tradition, people gave flowers to the veterans to show their appreciation and enjoyed having their photos take with these brave men in their old uniforms.

At another site, a magnificent statue of a weeping mother watched as thousands came to pay their respects at a beautiful war memorial.  The statue represents all the mothers who cried for their lost sons in the Patriotic War, and it is said that when it is quiet, you can hear the beat of her heart.  But even more than the individual mothers, she holds the collective grief of a nation that was utterly ravaged by war and relentlessly besieged by a savage enemy, yet persevered and emerged victorious.

People paid their respects by placing hundreds of thousands of flowers along the walls of the memorial and in other places, and by singing songs of remembrance.  Behind the memorial was a peaceful woodland park where families and friends gathered in small groups to cook food and sing old patriotic songs together.  I especially noticed men in their old uniforms participating in this gaiety.

My wanderings that day left me with many deep and lasting impressions.  I was enthralled by the old war veterans - of whom there are fewer and fewer each year - exchanging greetings with each other, retelling their old stories, and sharing smiles that still seemed tinged by a sadness that has lived in their souls for more than half a century.  Just watching them, I could feel the camaraderie that had existed among them since the days of the war, and I understood that these were men who were forever changed by the bitter challenge they were forced to meet.  They were heroes.  

And it warmed my heart to see that after so many years, even the youngest generations still respect and honor these men.  Mothers bring their small children out to the parades and memorials so that they will understand the sacrifices of their grandfathers (and great-grandfathers) and not lose the importance of this day.

After 60 years, honoring those who served and died to protect their country is still important in Ukraine and Russia, it still matters to them to keep their history alive.  So why have we Americans so easily forgotten our own veterans?

Maybe it is our preoccupation with our daily existence, with our things, and with enjoyment of our own narrow lives.  Maybe it is the ways in which popular opposition to wars in Vietnam and Iraq have made it politically incorrect to honor war or soldiers in any fashion.  Somehow, honor has become dishonorable.

But maybe there is another reason: the war never really came to the United States.  We sent hundreds of thousands of men to Europe and the Pacific to fight and die, but we did not have to fight an enemy in our own midst.  Our cities were not bombed and destroyed, and we did not have an enemy occupying our homes and killing our women and children.  No one was trying to exterminate us.  For Americans, the “home front” was a place of safety.

But in Ukraine, the war was fought with all the blood and horror that anyone can possibly imagine.  Kharkiv itself was taken by the Germans and retaken by the Soviets twice in intense battles that left the city devastated.  A week after Victory Day, as I stood on a bridge over the Kharkiv River and just looked at the city and its buildings, I imagined what it must have been like to have enemy airplanes zooming overhead, bombs falling all around, tanks rumbling through the streets, soldiers shooting anything that moved, and the city in flames and rubble.

There was no safe home front here, and civilians were terribly brutalized.  You can still see it in the faces of elderly women who survived that time and of the men who fought with all their will to protect their own communities, homes and families.   Americans at home read about the war - Ukrainians lived it, or died trying.  Perhaps this is one great reason why Ukrainians still have such a need to recognize and celebrate this day, while Americans seem to have just swept these memories under the carpet.

It has been popular in a few books and movies over the last five years or so to talk about the U.S. veterans of World War II as our “Greatest Generation,” and in fact, they were.  The men I saw on May 9th, and all the heroes they represented, were most certainly the “Greatest Generation” of the Soviet Union, of Russia, and of Ukraine.  

Seeing these surviving men and women, watching the heartfelt celebration of their sacrifices so many years later in a free Ukraine, and thinking of the kind of world we would have now if it had not been for the strength and spirit of that “Greatest Generation” among all the Allies, I was a bit embarrassed and very sad to see how easily we Americans have forgotten them.

If I am home for Memorial Day next year, I will wear a red poppy, I will buy some flags, and I will go to a cemetery.  I will honor the veterans.  And I will remember.

Return to page Articles Provided by DU Community
Return to page Read About Ukraine

Previous page:

Next page:

Top