by Catherine Durkin Robinson, creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.
My husband and I took our kids to Bay Pines National Cemetery for the annual Memorial Day ceremony. We’ve been attending this event for ten years and can remember the days when hardly anyone showed up. Back in 2000 and 2001, there was plenty of parking space, only a dozen folding chairs and miles of empty space around the graveyard. That all changed with 9/11, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan keep the crowds coming back every year, more and more people with personal stories and memories to share.
Yet this year’s ceremony had an altogether different vibe to it.
The crowd at Bay Pines has always been decidedly right-wing. This is not surprising, considering that most of the people in attendance are older, white, and from a military background. My family and I are in the minority, but I just tell the kids to think of those folks as family. Let’s be honest, add in some Genny Beer and a few redheads and it could easily be a Durkin family reunion.
This year, we sat toward the back in a row with several empty seats. After we arrived, a man in his mid-60s with more than a few missing teeth walked over and planted a yellow flag at my feet. I looked up through the morning sunlight and saw that the flag said, “Don’t Tread on Me.” I looked at the man’s shirt and felt sick to my stomach. My husband and kids noticed him, too.
Then his friends arrived. Their t-shirts were even better.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2010.
