An emotional Memorial Day – talk about a ‘Dog Day Afternoon’

Scenes from Front Royal’s Memorial Day 2017 – Photos/Roger Bianchini

I knew it would be an emotional Memorial Day celebration for me when event organizer Malcolm Barr Sr. told me that my father, along with Michael Williams’ Vietnam-era dad, would be one of two veterans the 2017 event would be dedicated to.  However, I was not prepared for the depth of emotion that would be welled up by keynote speaker U.S. Air Force Technical Sgt. (retired) Tina Laing’s powerful words.

Laing, now on the R-MA staff, spoke of battlefield experiences over a half century removed from my father’s service in World War II.  But it seems those experiences NEVER change.  A quote I heard the night before from a D-Day documentary rang in my ears.  Recalling the carnage he witnessed, a soldier landing, as my dad did on the Normandy beaches in 1944, asked, “Why are wars conducted this way?!!?”

Twice I was brought to tears as I photographed Front Royal’s 2017 remembrance of those who have served.  First, as I listened to Laing’s powerful account of Iraq veteran Dakota Meyer’s efforts to reach his team, cut off on the Iraqi battlefield; then by her own account of coming home after her deployment to that same war front.

I can only suggest that any citizen who wants to know what commitment and sacrifice on the field of battle means, listen to Sgt. Laing’s videotaped speech elsewhere on the Royal Examiner website (I calculated in the unedited video, her speech runs from the 15:50-32:40 mark).

As I told her following the event, I know my father would have been proud that she spoke at a Memorial Day event his name was attached to.

God bless you, Sgt. Laing; and God bless all those who put their lives in harm’s way for the survival of the American Republic, as oaths to the Constitution assert, from threats foreign or domestic …

The Skyline High Band

… an adoptable dog from the Humane Society of Warren County

Above, hound dogs chilling; below dogs parading …

Big or small, it’s 1 PM and that’s enough emotion for me for one Memorial dog day afternoon.