Memorial Days' Past

It was a grand Memorial Day Tradition in our family growing up to pay our respects to our Grandpa Menzie at the Los Angeles Veterans Cemetery. He died of cirrhosis of the liver when my Dad was just 18 years old in the VA hospital just down the street from his final resting spot.

We would take bets on who would find the grave site first...and make dibs on who would clean the overgrown grass off the face of it. And a fight would always ensue for who gets to take home the little flag that the scouts placed by the headstone prior to our visit. I don't think we ever missed a year...at least while all six of us kids were at home.

So these are some of the photos of Memorial Days past...yes, I know they are horribly cropped. I don't know how to get picasa to center them in the collage. His name was not "Ward," but Howard Yuille Menzie. He served in the US Army as a Master Sergent, as the stone suggests...and yes, we always wore poker faces for some reason. One can tell we didn't always want to be there and certainly didn't need 50 shots of the same event each year with the print camera, slide camera, SLR camera, AND video camera...not kidding. I think I've turned into my dad in the photo department. Sorry kids! I DO know your pain! You'll thank me for it later!

We always knew how special Memorial Day was...and were very keen on the sacrifice many made for our freedoms. It's a very large cemetery with headstones as far as the eye can see...a visual reminder. Although, I know many didn't fall in the line of fire, they all did their part to make our America what it is today.

We would then rush off to Titos Tacos...and sometimes go sit at the Marina (Del Rey) and watch the boats. It was especially cool when Memorial Day fell on Wayne's or my birthday (May 27th and May 31st respectively). Then we were sure to get first dibs on the flag...HA! May is a great month, isn't it?



While I haven't continued that Memorial Day Tradition since living here in So. Cal, we have taken our kids up and had the same photo-op and Titos experience. In fact, last time we did it was when the Escalade was broken into and my Nikon, among other things was stolen. The only photos on that stolen camera were of our cemetery stop. And so I insisted on a do-over with my little digital on the way home--HAD to get those 'next generation' pictures!!! (It was Sunday and we were coming from church in LA, thus the nice clothes:)