Memorial Day in the United Sates: the day set aside to honor and mourn American military personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country, and one of our most cherished national holidays.
As one small way to honor the heroes who gave everything to defend our country, we’ve assembled a list of suggested reading. We hope you’re able to take some time during the holiday to explore some of these resources and reflect.
The History of Memorial Day
- Memorial Day entry at Wikipedia.org
- “Memorial Day History” at VA.gov
- “Memorial Day” at History.com
- “Memorial Day 2021” at Military.com
Reflections on Memorial Day
National War Museums and Memorials
- The National Civil War Museum
- The National WWI Museum and Memorial
- The National WWI Museum
- The Korean War National Museum (It was announced in March 2018 that artifacts formerly displayed in the former Springfield, Illinois museum had been transferred to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri)
- The National Vietnam War Museum
- The National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial
Historical Small Arms
- “Small Arms by Conflict” at MilitaryFactory.com
- “Over There: Sniper Rifles and Shotguns in World War I” at AmericanRifleman.org
This is just a small sampling. We certainly encourage you to seek out additional publications, institutions and resources related to all military conflicts involving American service men and women. Do you have additional suggestions for our list, or perhaps personal reflections on Memorial Day? Feel free to use the comments section below.
I have read the first two books in the Rick Atkinson liberation trilogy, AN ARMY AT DAWN and THE DAY OF BATTLE. They are engrossing and well written and researched. “An Army” is the story of the north African campaign and “The Day” is the story of the invasion of Sicily and the Italian campaign. The latter particularly focuses on the sacrifice Americans made to create a second front in Italy as they tried to fight their way up the BOOT. Incredible. And the number of casualties who were struck by friendly fire is heartbreaking.
This is hard reading, but you will be proud of those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice.
Exactly Bill, especially during current conflicts. Example, during first days of Afghanistan, a USAF bomber with its seer not working, bombed our own. There’s a great documentary on this and other friendly fire deaths like Tillman. He was murdered by his own because of notes he wrote in a ledger about what was really going on. No way to patrol units divide themselves on a look only mission. Read his story, it will make you sick, some of his friends came forward after years.