Remembering Remembrance Day

This is my story of returning home to Gettysburg after my first mobilization tour in 2007. It was published in "The Gettysburg Experience."

After a nine-month stint in the Army in Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and other places resembling the lunar surface, my mind was filled with images of the green rolling hills and farms of home. I had driven more than 900 miles from my station in Florida by the time I sped through Frederick, Md., and once again entered the panorama of the Catoctin Mountains lining the sky in front of me. In 30 minutes I would be home.

 

While the view up Route 15 flanking the familiar hills and mountains wrought feelings of home and family, it also spawned images of the Union troops making their forced march northward through these same fields. Their thoughts were far different from mine. Where would their invincible Confederate foe emerge from those mountains to hand them their next defeat? Who would be their next general to lead them to this defeat? Many thought General McClellan would be appointed for the third time and save them from what was sure to be yet another disaster. Would they ever see home again? Yet, with all these doubts, they endured the long, dusty marches and bloody contests for a cause they believed in.

 

Soon I was driving across the Emmitsburg Road, my eyes panning the terrain from Seminary Ridge to the Round Tops. I quickly reached the open field where almost 12,000 men from Virginia made their famous, desperate charge to take center of the Union defenses on Cemetery Ridge to my right. Almost 9,000 of them met their fates for a cause they believed in.

 

It was mid-November when Gettysburg prepared for Remembrance Day to commemorate the dedication of the nation’s first national cemetery and President Abraham Lincoln’s reading of his famous address. Reenactors were abound conducting living histories and leading the parade up Baltimore Street that culminated into the reenactment of Lincoln’s delivery of the 272 words that perfectly and succinctly encapsulated the Union cause. Now, 144 years later, the men who gave their last full measure of devotion, even those unknown to us by name, are still remembered. My wife volunteered us to join 200 other Gettysburgians for the Gettysburg National Foundation’s annual illumination of the graves of the Union dead. We knelt before each grave of the men and boys from Michigan, New York, and Ohio, placing a candle inside a brown paper bag and then lit the candles at sundown.

 

Over 3,900 bags glowed before each grave, reminding each soul, and us, he is not forgotten. The Union for which they fought still lives, and their nation still remembers them. A detachment from the First Minnesota gathered at the Minnesota Urn, the first monument placed in the National Park in 1867, and their top sergeant read an account of the regiment’s experience at Gettysburg in 1863. They saluted their fallen comrades and then solemnly marched into the darkness.

 

As we walked off, another detachment from Pennsylvania solemnly stood in their dress uniforms as their officer read the names of their fallen brothers. I turned again to gaze upon the hallowed ground and the rows and columns of unforgotten souls. I uttered a silent prayer for the men who sealed our freedom. I saluted them and remembered those who have fought on battlefields around the world throughout our nation’s history to preserve our freedom. I imagined the faces of the men from Michigan, Ohio, and New York, making their stand at Little Round Top, Cemetery Ridge, and the Wheatfield, and those still fighting today in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Never forget your Soldiers,” I said to my wife. Luckily for me, it was too dark for her to see my eyes watering up, but I quickly turned my head anyway…just in case. We left the nation’s oldest national cemetery grateful for the opportunity to honor our fallen heroes.

Reviews

[Dee Okolotowicz]

This was an excellent journal piece.

I don't always find that people "take you with them" when they recount a personal experience, but your story certainly did. I am from New England and have been to the Gettysburg cemetery and other landmarks in that area many times, but the real feeling, the real sharing came through your personal feelings. They were quite apparent through your chosen words. Your appreciation for their service was obvious and admirable.

I liked your writing style in this piece also. A few grammatical errors or passive words that should be rewritten were present, such as using "I drove more than 900 miles" rather than "had drove," making it more passive than active.

Overall, you captured this memory very nicely and with a great deal of emotion.

[Intel1]

Being from Harrisburg, Pa., I really liked this story. I'm familiar with Route 15 and the Appalachian mountains. I liked the references about the Union troops thinking that they were going to lose again. Gettysburg is a great place to go for Civil War history.
I thought that using the same words "for a cause they believed in" at the end of the second and third paragraph was too repetitive.
I liked learning about the nations oldest national cemetery.
Overall I thought it was a good story.