A day to remember

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:50 am CDT

It's hot, hazy and breezy today on the Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. The wide, four-lane roadway is cleared of traffic, with only an occasional jogger or walker crossing along the spacious sidewalks on each side, because the president is coming.

Preceded by 10 motorcycles, the president's 15-car motorcade crosses the bridge westward toward the cemetery, the procession of two matching black limousines and several black armored SUVs fanned out along the full width of the roadway. The motorcade steers around the circle on the Arlington side of the river and up to the hillside cemetery, where the president will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

It's impossible, on a sultry day like this, to forget the many men and women who have sacrificed their lives for this country, which, of course, is the point of a day like this: Making it impossible for all of us to forget the sacrifices that made this peaceful day possible.

In the midst of another war that has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 Americans, the president arrives at Arlington with the first lady to place a wreath. Afterward, joining members of his Cabinet and chairman of the joint chiefs staff, the president speaks of "the fallen.''

"In this place where valor sleeps, we acknowledge our responsibility as Americans to preserve the memory of the fallen,'' President Bush says. "On this Memorial Day, we look out on quiet hills, and rows of white headstones – and we know that we are in the presence of greatness.

"The markers here record the names of more than 296,000 men and women. Each of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines buried here answered the call to serve, and stepped forward to protect the nation they loved,'' he says. "All who are buried here understood their duty. They saw a dark shadow on the horizon, and went to meet it.

"In this place where valor sleeps, we are reminded why America has always gone to war reluctantly, because we know the costs of war,'' the president says. "We have seen those costs in the war on terror we fight today. These grounds are the final resting place for more than 270 men and women who have given their lives in freedom's cause since the attacks of September the 11th, 2001.''

"In this place where valor sleeps, we find strength in knowing that those serving freedom's cause have acted with principle and steadfast faith,'' says Bush, recounting the story of Second Lt. Jack Lundberg, killed two weeks after D-Day. He had written home to his mother and father: "I am sorry to add to your grief ... but we of the United States have something to fight for – never more fully have I realized that. The United States of America is worth the sacrifice."

The president invokes the name of another lieutenant, Mark Dooley, killed in a bombing last fall in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. He also had written a letter to his parents: "Remember that my leaving was in the service of something that we loved, and be proud. The best way to pay respect is to value why a sacrifice was made."

In the name of remembrance, Bush is not the only one who has stepped out this weekend to remind us all of that which should never be forgotten. Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Auschwitz on Sunday to mourn the fallen at a Nazi death camp that had claimed the lives of an estimated 1.5 million people, mostly Jews.

This made it all the more jarring this morning to read side-by-side accounts in Washington's leading newspaper of, 1) a papal appearance at Auschwitz and, 2) an account of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in an interview with a German magazine, making another inferred question of the Holocaust's very existence.

It could be that insane assaults on our sensibilities such as these serve their own distinct purpose as well, again making it impossible to forget the sacrifices suffered by so many who preceded us.

Crossing the Memorial Bridge, the monuments of the capital come into clearer focus in the haze of this hot holiday. The shaded and lighted sides of the Washington Monument acquire changing hues as the weather changes, appearing as nearly a stark black and white on a clear sunny day and in soft shades of gray on hazy days such as this.

At the mouth of the Tidal Basin, it's possible to view all of the monuments at once, the Lincoln, the Jefferson and the Washington, as well as the White House. And on a day such as this, it's possible to forgive this city for all its excesses, with this grand, ethically challenged capital pausing for one mandatory day of remembrance.

Remnants of "Rolling Thunder,'' the motorcycle-riding veterans of the Vietnam War who converged on the capital this weekend, as is their Memorial Day custom, remain parked along the shaded roadway along the east shore of the Potomac. The vanity license-plate of one bike from North Carolina reads "EVIL." It probably belongs to a dentist.

The sun is growing stronger, the day pushing 90 degrees, and from Washington to Chicago to Florida, the long, hot Memorial Day weekend once again is making good on its role as the unofficial start of summer, a day that makes it impossible for all of us to forget.