Memorial Day Services in Seattle

This email moved me so much I wanted to share it with all of you. It is from my brother.

I went to the 84th Annual Memorial Day Celebration this afternoon at the Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in North Seattle and decided to go early and walk around. It is the largest Memorial Day Celebration in the city so I wanted to get there early. The concert started at 1:30 and service at 2:00, so I had about 45 minutes to walk around the hundreds of white tombstones, each with a single American flag next to it, some with a single rose, carnation or bouquet at the base. For the past month volunteers have been at this cemetery cleaning over 5,000 gravestones and that is just a small percentage of the number of people laid to rest here. Boy Scouts were out early this morning in the rain putting 5,000 flags in the ground – just amazing! All along the driveway, leading in to this massive cemetery, there were large American flags lining the route to the service on top the hill. Along with the brilliant white marble headstones of the fallen soldiers that you saw there were also numerous unmarked headstones of soldiers from every war, rank and military service. From the Civil War, Spanish American War, WWI and WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq war, Purple Hearts and more…all mixed in with the more grandiose gravestones and grave sites of the wealthy built of marble columns, statues, and fountains.

As the rain stopped and sun finally came out, I made my way up the hill to the sitting area, and as I walked I started to look beyond the gravestones and focused on the people that came here today to be a part of this celebration. There were families with their little kids, a few teenagers who you could tell would rather be someplace else on a Monday afternoon and an older generation dressed in patriotic wear, proud and patriotic. The few that really captured my attention were four ladies who I saw all alone. Seeing them made me wonder what story they had to share.

The first lady I saw was sitting all alone on a grave stone/bench in the middle of the cemetery wearing a bright purple jacket. She had found a grave site that was also a bench, I am sure has been used by so many others on their walk, her walking cane resting along side her. As I saw her I made up a story of how she may be a widow and has lost possibly her husband who was a veteran, as well as possibly sons and daughters as well as grandchildren who she may have lost or are still serving in the military, but she is here today alone to celebrate them.

As I approached the top of hill where the service was being held, they had a roped off section for visitors to sit. This was another area the boy scouts had spent all morning, putting up the chairs in a straight rows, no doubt overseen by a Marine! As I approached I spotted another elderly lady on her hands and knees with a bucket of water, a sponge, comet, and a scrub brush cleaning a headstone. Not only did she wash one, but ten. She took such care as she carefully washed each one and gave each one the same amount of time they deserved. After each had been cleaned and dried she made sure each was left with a small bouquet of freshly cut rhododendron. She finished up just before the service started and after the service I walked over to the grave site and noticed all of the markers belonged to the "Brown" family. All had served in the military and dated back to the late 1800's.


Another lady I spotted was casually walking through the cemetery, wearing this long red coat with a fabulous fur hat carrying a small bouquet of fresh cut purple rhododendrons in search of the deserving gravestone.

I took my seat at the ceremony, towards the back, and watched as the color guard entered, followed by 15 different legions and auxiliaries from around the region. The band played all the favorite marches and the service men, veterans and active service men and women all stood when their song was played and the crowd cheered as they all stood. It was a great feeling to see all of these men and women from the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard, some with tears rolling down their faces.

As I watched and listened to everything happening, I couldn't help notice another woman, sitting all alone with an empty seat on each side of her. I noticed her when she walked in with the color guard behind the POW-MIA flag and later found out she is a "widow" of a POW-MIA.

Speeches and prayers followed, as did 21 tolls on the bell, a replica of the Liberty Bell, along with the playing of the taps. The color guard exited to the song Stars and Stripes as each flag played tribute to the wreath that was laid in honor of the fallen.

It was a good day.