Remembering the significance of Memorial Day
Memorial Day weekend has changed, over the years.
Millions will travel, head to the lake, or have a barbecue, but as we all should keep in mind this weekend, Memorial Day means so much more.
"I think it's very easy for people today to view our American way of life as if it's like this everywhere in the world and you and I both know it's not," said Rick Williams, YSU Coordinator of the office of veteran affairs. "We have the good men and women of the United States services to thank for the freedoms we enjoy and I think it's important to remember that and take time to reflect on that," he said.
Enjoying the holiday with friends and loved ones is nice, but Williams says we have to keep in mind the real reason we're celebrating and sometimes we get away from that.
"I think we're a fortunate country, a blessed country that when we do get involved in wars, it's always on foreign soil. It's never here," said Williams. "So we don't seem to get the full effect of how horrible war is and in order to enjoy the lifestyle, we have, many people have had to pay a steep price for that," he said.
Williams says you can honor our Valley's bravest by playing taps at the events you attend.
"I know with our personal family picnics, we like to play the national anthem at the beginning and then play taps at the end and it's just a great way to reflect on the many men and women who have given their lives for our freedoms," Williams said.
Williams held the annual reading of the names at YSU this past week and says schools should also be showing their appreciation.
"We have over 10,000 students at YSU and what better way to instill that that type of reflection about the many men and women who have given their lives and they have ceremonies like that on a college campus," said Williams. "At YSU. we have 67 folks that we have confirmed, we're either students, staff or faculty members who are called away while they were at YSU and never returned, because they did give their lives for our countries," he said.
Williams runs the Veterans Resource Center at the university and wants veterans to take advantage of their services.
"We're one of the few universities in Ohio that have a standalone center, two full time employees and we take great, great pride in taking care of our veteran population," said Williams. "They can either visit our website, they can call our office, but we are committed to seeing that every veteran that comes to YSU gets the full amount of support we can give them to be successful," he said.
