Memorial Day 2022; How to explain Memorial Day to children

Here are ways to help your kids understand what Memorial Day celebrates, and why it’s so important. It’s key for kids to understand that we aren’t just taking a day off from school. The people we are honoring were dads, moms, brothers and sisters, just like we are.

But explaining Memorial Day, which is observed on May 30 this year, requires delving into difficult topics . Parents shy away from that because they think it will scare them, but it doesn’t. Experts say kids are afraid of what they don’t understand. If they understand something, it empowers them. 

Ask, “What do you know about this day?” Experts say adults can be straightforward with teens about the meaning of Memorial Day. Say it’s a day to honor U.S. military members who died in the line of duty.

Use a dictionary for clear and concise definitions. It defines “memorial” such as a monument or ceremony that honors a person who has died. 

Tell kids, “On Memorial Day we honor, which really means to celebrate and remember, the Americans who died in wars that America chooses to fight in.”

Family members can go to the graves of family members that died in a war. Flowers are a tangible way to pay tribute to those lost. 

Consider watching or participating in “Flags In,” a ritual where American flags are placed at grave sites for service members. 

For Flags In, St. Patrick’s / Blessed Trinity Youth Group will be in St. Patrick’s Cemetery at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 22. Troop 38 does Tioga Cemetery on Tuesday, May 18. Dates are pending for Scout Troop 60 at Historic Evergreen, and Newark Valley Troop 30 will be at Newark Valley area cemeteries. Veterans from the American Legion and VFW Posts will place flags elsewhere in Tioga County cemeteries. 

General John Logan founded Memorial Day when his General Order One called for “flowers be strewn or otherwise decorated” on all Civil War Fallen Heroes graves. This 1868 remembrance should become an Owego practice. Volunteer to do it. 

Your children should know Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. Every year at 3 p.m. the nation observes a national moment of silence. Set your phone for 3 p.m. to have that moment together with your children.

Memorial Day is a special Day of Remembrance. Without fail for a half century, Owego and Tioga County remembers her deceased veterans buried in 65 cemeteries. Use of the WEBO Facebook Page live from 8 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. (not on air) allows families to hear the honored names reverently read by Mary Beth Jones and JoAnn Walter.

WEBO will also air the service at 10:15 a.m., live from the Tioga County Veterans and Civil War Union Memorials. President of T & K Communications Gordon Ichikawa provides the sound system for the park. Bring your lawn chair for comfort.  

Here’s how kids can learn. Take them to Owego’s 10 a.m. Memorial Day parade on May 30.  Wave small American flags and march with Owego Elementary School children coordinated by PTO President Casey Chobot, and players from the 71st Owego Little League program, especially players from those awesome 14 T-Ball teams.

Explain that a parade is a moving timeline of American military history. It pays tributes to those who have served and sacrificed from the American Revolution to the present day. Floats would be appropriate to tell this story to the kids sitting on sidewalks or standing along the way or in the park. 

Veterans who served overseas and stateside lead the downtown / residential street parade led by the police patrol and assisted at key intersections by John Hitchings’ volunteer Fire Police.

Color Guards and uniformed veterans represent Veterans of Modern Warfare of Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Also, Vietnam veterans from Chapter 480. Veterans and Auxiliaries from the American Legion Post 401 and Glenn A. Warner Post 1371 Veterans of Foreign Wars. 

Riding in cars or marching and proudly wearing their medal are recipients of the Purple Heart or Valor Honors. 

Patriotic music is played in the parade and during the ceremony by the Owego Free Academy Marching Band, directed by Lindsey Williams. Fire trucks and emergency squad vehicles, as well as military vehicles, add value to the parade.  

Community organizations like The Owego Elks and Owego Moose are invited by Parade Marshall John Loftus to report to Temple Street by the Owego Police Station and First Presbyterian Union Church. Line up between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. John’s digital watch signals the start of the parade at exactly 10 a.m.    

Owego’s traditional Service of Remembrance – its 131st – is always under flags at half-staff at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial and the Missing Man POW/MIA table, the Fallen Soldier Battlefield Statue also showing the names of four Tioga County Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients.  

The Invocation and Benediction is provided by VFW Honor Guard and Deacon Michael Donovan of St. Patrick’s / Blessed Trinity.

Regent Karen Messersmith, of the Daughters of American Revolution, will place a wreath at the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial that faces the Court Street Bridge, and where flags fly honoring WWII Fallen Heroes missed on their first monument. 

Recipients of the Purple Heart and Valor Honor and Gold Star Families will be invited to place wreaths at the Tioga County Memorials for WWI, WWII, Those Who Served, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, Civil War Medal of Honor and Fallen Hero Battlefield Statue. Troop 60 Boy Scouts will recite their names along with a drum roll by an OFA drummer.  

Retired U.S. Army Chaplain Captain Patrick Van Durmie shares his unique perspectives of active military duty, ministering to troops in Northern Iraq.  

The Tioga County Veterans Office continues to be extremely busy. Director Michael Middaugh will outline benefits and services for veterans.

Owego Mayor Mike Baratta will read a Proclamation of Gratitude; thanking recently deceased Vietnam Veteran Chet Harding for his 40 years of dedicated service to Project Homecoming, and for restoring around 50 damaged tombstones at the Civil War Section of Historic Evergreen Cemetery. 

Navy Fallen Heroes missing or buried at sea will be remembered by a wreath cast into the Susquehanna River from the Court Street Bridge. Owego’s first WWII Fallen Hero, Seaman Delmar Sibley, is still entombed in the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. The VFW Color Guard will fire a rifle salute, and Bugler Steve Palinosky will play the mournful sound of taps. 

What’s missing for Memorial Day – A Day of Remembrance? Email to Jim Rafts Sr. at jraftis2@stny.rr.com.