8:30AM: Putting flag up over the house. It is Veteran's Day 2002.
In keeping a family tradition I make the trip out to National Cemetery in Riverside, as I have every year since my uncle died. This makes the 12th Memorial Day I stand among the tombstones bring flowers and flags to honor my Uncle Ralph and Aunt Cathy, both veterans. Someone else in the family is taking care of my Father and Grandfather's graves today, it's comforting to see the tradition continue.
While most people are firing up the BBQ or marinating the ribs, I drive the 40 miles out into the country. Past the declining number of orange groves and new subdivisions to the 900 acres next to March AFB, that is known as Riverside National Cemetery.
By the time I get there, it's about 9:30. I need gingerly move the truck around the groups of people who are gathering for the ceremony that is starting shortly. There are more people here this year and the mood appears to be a bit more solemn after 9-11, but its nice to see people honoring the veterans. People are everywhere putting up flowers and reading the tombstones.
I move out to the outer Eastern ring to the far end. There over in the corner, overlooking the runway of March AFB is where the gravesite is located. As I park the car, a pair of jets take off the runway across the road. I watch them roar off into the distance and know they're helping keep the peace somewhere. Turning back toward the graves I can't help thinking that this is a fitting place for Uncle Ralph. He was a former Aviator turned firemen.
He loved being around airplanes, airports-- anything to do with flying. Like me he had grown up with an airport in the backyard, so it seemed such a natural thing. Much to my mother's dismay he took me for my first airplane ride at the age of 6 and hooked me on flying and chemistry by 10. For my 35th birthday he gave me my most cherished possession; his WWII flight jacket with his wings that I still wear today.
Aunt Cathy was actually Col. Aunt Cathy, an Air Force Surgical Nurse. Back in her prime Aunt Cathy would have made Margaret "HotLips" Houlihan look like Marge Simpson. Never a wrinkle or blonde hair out of place. Her Nurses Cap set so straight you could cut bread on the creases. In many ways she and Uncle Ralph helped raise me during various stages of my childhood. Cathy taught me to sew and do needlework, and helped me study my microbiology and for my clinical boards. The both insisted I get my Algebra grades up, and devised various bribes (like a trip to Disneyland,) and games to entice me into to make good grades. Both were sitting at the World Championships and in Washington DC when I made significant achievements-- even when my folks couldn't be there.
The major thing they instilled in me was a sense of freedom, independence and an understanding that this was the only country in the world where I could be whatever I wanted to make myself if I was willing to put forth the effort.
And now as the twenty-one gun salute goes off in the distance, I understand how precious those lessons were.
