World War I Veterans Forgotten

May 29 was a glorious day for the annual National Memorial Day Parade. With flags and banners flying and bands playing, one could not help feel a reverence for those whose sacrifice made our freedoms possible. Unit after unit of uniformed soldiers and sailors representing wars of past and present marched by. There were blue-coated soldiers of the Continental Army, Union and Confederate soldiers in blue and gray, riders of the 7th Cavalry from the conflicts on the

western frontier, Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War, and then a gap.

As I waited anxiously for the next unit I was surprised to see that it was from World War II. The doughboys of the First World War had been left out of the parade. The memory of the 2 million men who sailed to France and the 53,000 who lost their lives was neglected. The soldiers of the 1917-18 war who faced the mud, wire and gas of the trenches to make the world safe for democracy deserve the same recognition as the men and women of more recent conflicts. Surely the parade organizers could have found flags, banners, or uniforms to honor those who served Over There during the Great War.

WALTER HILSABECK

Springfield