An Open Letter About Memorial Day

An Open Letter to Educators, Marketers, Publishers and Broadcasters:

About Memorial Day

“Happy 9/11!”

“It’s Our Biggest Hurricane Katrina Party Ever!”

“Hurry!  These Johnstown Flood Sale Prices

Are About to Wash Away!"

These fake headlines are cringe-worthy.  For many Americans,  communications around Memorial Day causes real cringing, pain and sadness.

Memorial Day is a unique national holiday in the United States. 

It is one of ten Federal holidays recognized by the U.S. government.  Therefore, it has become one of the three-day weekends that we enjoy in the United States.  Because it falls in late May, it is also the unofficial “beginning of summer”.

However, it is the only holiday that honors Americans who have died.  Specifically, Memorial Day honors and remembers military personnel who perished while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is different than Veterans Day:  that holiday honors all who have served wearing the Cloth of our Nation.

For the friends, families, battle buddies and anyone in the circle of a fallen hero, Memorial Day is a tough day.  A rough weekend.  It brings back memories.  Yes, it brings honor for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  But, the very public reminder makes the loss very present. 

Every day is a memorial day for anyone close to those who fell in uniform.   When Memorial Day gets trivialized and it’s meaning forgotten, it causes sadness and pain to those who work so hard to never forget.

Words like “Happy Memorial Day”, “Memorial Day Sale” and “Memorial Day Celebration” make it clear that the person or organization behind those words doesn’t get it.

According to an article published on May 21, 2019 on military.com:

Only 55% of Americans know what Memorial Day is about, and only about one in five plan to fly a flag at half-staff or attend a patriotic event on May 27, according to a Harris poll survey commissioned by the University of Phoenix.

The survey, conducted April 9-11 among 2,025 adults, showed that only 28% had attended a local ceremony or patriotic event on a previous Memorial Day. It also found that only 23% had flown a flag at half-staff, while 22% had left a flag or flowers at a gravesite or visited a military monument.

Only 55% could correctly describe Memorial Day as a day to honor the fallen from all the nation's wars, the Harris survey states, and 45% said they either always or often attended a commemoration activity.

About 27% of those surveyed thought Memorial Day honored all military veterans, 5% thought it honored those currently serving, and 3% thought the day marked the official beginning of summer, the survey states.

Older adults are more likely to observe Memorial Day and describe it correctly, the survey found. About 53% of those aged 55-64 commemorated Memorial Day, compared with 40% of those aged 18-34, according to the survey's findings.

The implications of this study are clear. Older Americans lived thru wars like WWII, Korea and Vietnam. We had the draft. Most of America was directly touched by those wars. Younger Americans have not been as connected to the military since the draft was eliminated in 1972. And, this study only surveyed adults. Americans under the age of 18 are no doubt even less aware of the meaning of Memorial Day.

We would like to ask those who manage and control mass communications and education in America for your help.

Here are three requests. Only you can make these happen:

1. Educate your staffs on the meaning of Memorial Day.

2. Educate all Americans on the meaning of Memorial Day.

3. Educate your clients on the meaning of Memorial Day and how to talk about it. Encourage them to change their language on around that weekend, i.e. “It’s Our Beginning of Summer Sale”, “Have a great weekend, but never forget what it’s all about”


As President Calvin Coolidge said:

“A nation that forgets its heroes will itself soon be forgotten.”



Thank you in advance for your help.



Sincerely,



Alan Burks

Gold Star Father of

2LT Peter Burks

KIA Baghdad, Iraq on 11/14/2007