After the bloody Civil War, Americans gathered to honor fallen veterans by placing flowers on their graves. They called it Decoration Day.

After World War I, they changed the name to Memorial Day to honor those lost in all wars. Like other towns across the nation, our little community celebrates Memorial Day with parades, prayers and speeches. But today, there is more.

A group of local veterans, spearheaded by Southport’s Jim Singer, a Marine infantry lieutenant in Vietnam, pushed, begged and cajoled the town fathers/mothers to let them decorate our utility polls by hanging flags honoring individual veterans. You can’t miss them. It is one more way to thank vets for their service.

Sadly Singer and the other Vietnam vets know that was not always the case. For them, the 1960s were a tough time.

They served in a climate that makes today's university and racial protests seem like child's play compared to the civil unrest over the Vietnam War.

Then, anti-war protesters, citing religious or other cultural reasons against the conflict, were joined by young men facing the chance they would celebrate their graduation with a trip to their hometown draft board. They had watched TV news and realized the John Wayne/Hollywood version of war was fiction. TV videos showed real people, like them, suffer and die.

On top of that, the patriotic surge of World War II fueled by the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and Nazi atrocities did not transfer to the faraway conflict in a strange country most Americans never even knew existed.

As the anti-war protests grew, elected officials pushed back and sent in police and National Guardsmen to break up protests. We saw how well that worked at Kent State and at the 1968 Democratic and Republican conventions.

Meanwhile, some college protesters suddenly signed up for graduate school as others escaped to Canada. In some cases, wealthy parents convinced friendly doctors to discover ailments that allowed their sons to dodge the draft while kids with blue collar parents marched off into the mud. Some of them came home with debilitating injuries of the body and mind. Others did not come home at all.

Those who came home returned to a nation in turmoil and they were caught in the middle.

Many of the older vets, who served in World War II and Korea, saw the protests as treason. And they resented the protesters – a lot.

After all, the oldsters had donned the uniform and marched to Italy, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Heartbreak Ridge, and the battle Marines dubbed the Frozen Chosin in the Freezin season. They endured the real war and lost friends. Why should the next generation not serve? 

When Vietnam vets came home, some veterans organizations, the very ones who embraced vets from past wars, were less than welcoming.

Some returning Vietnam vets let their hair grow, favored the blaring sounds of rock and roll over the sweet melodies of Glenn Miller & Co. And, to top it off, some younger vets relaxed with funny-looking cigarettes instead of pounding cold brews and a shot of Jack or two.

Some older vets associated these fashion trends with the very protesters they despised and transferred their feelings toward the younger vets. Some even shunned the Viet vets because their war did not end with a resounding victory. On a few occasions, the “L” word, was used to describe their service.

When the Viet vets went to the Veterans Administration seeking treatment for strange ailments, some officials met them with scorn and dubbed them freeloaders. After all, something the government approved (Agent Orange) could not cause all these strange ailments. Could it?

As the Viet vets of the 1960s look back at the shadowed past of a half century, they realize that despite our current bitter political divisions, there has been a change of heart towards vets.

If you sport a baseball cap that says Army, Navy, Air Force, or even Marines, it is common for strangers to greet you saying: “Thank you for your service.”

On Memorial Day 2024, as today's old duffers join with youngsters to march in our local parades, we will greet them with polite applause and thanks.

And, thanks to the hard work of Jim Singer, an elderly Mud Marine, and his merry band, we have a new way to celebrate our friends and neighbors who proudly wore the nation's uniform.

As you drive to the grocery store, the gas station, and to church, look up at the flags flying from our phone poles. I’ll bet you know them. They were our neighbors, worked in our shipyards, and attended our schools. Others came here from the strange land some call “From Away.”

But they all sacrificed for us. And they deserve our thanks.

Happy Memorial Day.