It’s our responsibility to teach and prepare those who will follow us — and to keep this day proper.”

Richard Rainer, Jr., Portsmouth town administrator and Navy veterans

PORTSMOUTH — Richard Rainer, Jr. said he tries to remember all of the people who never made it home.

“I do know a few,” said Mr. Rainer, Portsmouth’s town administrator and a retired U.S. Navy captain who was the guest speaker at Memorial Day observances Monday at the VFW Hall in Common Fence Point. 

“I have an uncle I never got to meet,” Mr. Rainer said. “He joined the Royal Air Force before the U.S. entered World War II. His name was on a wall in my junioutor high school. He was killed in action.

“Operations Specialist 2nd Class Lyons was an air controller who taught me air defense tactics on USS Philippine Sea. We weren’t close, but I remember he was a good sailor and a good man. We lost him while he stood watch at the Pentagon on 9/11.”

Mr. Rainer also has a brother who was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

“He came home, but the person I knew never made it back,” he said.

Unfortunately, Mr. Rainer said, Memorial Day seems to have lost much of its meaning over the years. For many younger people, this day meant to honor all military members who died in service — more than one million Americans — has become synonymous with weekend business sales, he said.

“As I sat to write my thoughts that I would share with you today, the TV was on and I lost count of the commercials encouraging me to celebrate Memorial Day by visiting my local car dealers, making a stop at my local grocery store, or getting the sleep of my life on the new ‘sleep-a-matic’ mattress available at a nearby retailing — all to mark this special thing we call Memorial Day,” Mr. Rainer said.

Part of the reason for that, he said, is because far fewer people answer the call to arms when needed today than in the past. “Just a few short decades ago over 12 percent of our population had served in our armed forces. Today, less than a half-percent serves. This essentially guarantees most of our citizens have not, and many never, be acquainted with a member of our military,” he said.

Mr. Rainer said he gained a greater understanding of the sacrifice made by military personnel because so many of his family members — including himself — answered the call. 

His grandfather lied about his age so he could serve in the British Army during World War I. He had three boys. One fought in the Italian Campaign in World War II, the other in Korea. Neither one talked about it much, he said.

“And my dad was part of the occupation force in Germany after the war,” Mr. Rainer said. “As a young boy I didn’t understand what they went through, but I admired them. They kept the memory of their comrades alive. They joined the American Legion and the VFW. They let us look at their photo albums and didn’t get too upset when we played with their old uniforms. They took us to parades and gave us good lives. They inspired us to be better than we thought we could be. They hung flags on special days like today.

“And they taught us to remember who made it all possible.”

Mr. Rainer said he’s come full circle after his time in the Navy. 

“I made it back home — but some didn’t. I will remember them,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to teach and prepare those who will follow us — and to keep this day proper.”

Voice of Democracy

The observance also featured a speech by Gianna McNally, a Portsmouth High School student whose “Let Freedom Ring” piece won first place in Post 5390’s Voice of Democracy essay contest. 

Miss McNally said while freedom is supposed to be an inalienable right for all Americans, the country continues to see great injustices when it comes to individual liberties.

“The best form of patriotism is not a blind one,” she said. “Those insisting that the U.S. is perfect will never be able to help it grow. Because of this, I believe that it is my responsibility to America to recognize its faults when it comes to freedoms, rights and equality, and to do my part in remedying them so that this nation can continue to strive for greatness and truly live up to the ideals it was founded upon.”