Memorial Day, a personal accounting

Three day weekend and barbecues; hoping for good weather so grilling can take place and friends or family can visit.  Sometimes there's a parade, more often not these days.  That's what Memorial Day has become to some.  For many others, it's something more personal.  I'm one of those.

Like many of my colleagues, Memorial Day is a reminder of the work we do every day.  My colleagues and I are in the remembrance business, if you want to get down to it.  If you want to get into the "war and memory" story, there are some excellent books you should read.  

Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory is a great one to start with but not to be forgotten is also Jay Winters' Remembering War--just to name a few.  

For me, and many of my colleagues, the act of being a historian is the act of being the collective memory for a nation, organization or group of organizations.  For me, personally, it's the act of being the collective memory for families.  I've been accused of saying this too much, but I am a firm believer that if a person is remembered, they continue to live on--never truly gone.  So, I've made a career of collecting stories and memories in order to be able to bring them back to life for the family, for the nation, for the organization, but more for that person themself.

So, when Memorial Day rolls around, I take stock in the stories, bring to light those I can, and bring them back to the present, even if just for a few minutes.

What about this year? This year it's a little closer to home for me.  Most don't know that I cut my research teeth working in my own family's genealogy when I was in high school.  The research bug hit me hard and still to this day consumes me in my paid-job, and passion.  I've traced my father's side of the family back to 1650, and then started working on the off-shoots--the women who married into the family.  What's their history? It's this work that yielded two names that I must commemorate this Memorial Day.  I haven't dug far enough into their stories, so there's not a ton to go on, but here's my tribute.

Private George Pickard of Auburn, NY, born 1817.  Pvt Pickard is my 3xgreat grandfather.  Pvt Pickard married Jane and went on to have nine children with her.  She was pregnant with their son Paul when he enlisted, in the US Army on 20 August 1862, with Company F, 111th New York Infantry that formed from men from Cayuga and Wayne Counties in Upstate New York.  The regiment met its fate at Gettysburg that hot July of 1863.

It was said of the regiment, "Col. Fox, in his account of the three hundred fighting regiments, speaking of the 111th, says: "On June 25, 1863, the brigade joined the 2nd corps which was then marching by on its way to Gettysburg. The regiment left two companies on guard at Accotink bridge; with the remaining eight companies, numbering 390 men, it was engaged at Gettysburg on the second day of the battle, in the brilliant and successful charge of Willard's brigade, losing 58 killed, 177 wounded, and 14 missing; total, 249."  Pvt Pickard was one of the 177 wounded at Gettysburg on the second day, just one year after enlisting.

Pvt Pickard's wounds were mortal.  He was sent to Fort Schyler in New York where he lingered for 20 days before succumbing to his wounds.  Today, he rests there still. 

In a previous war, there was another relative of mine.  Private Jacobus Amerman, Jr., of New Jersey, my 4xgreat grand uncle.  Jacobus is a bit of an enigma because this is a name that is popular in the family's early days, making it hard to sort him from his relatives.  What is known is that on 16 August 1775, five companies from Somerset, NJ were created and Jacobus was under the command of Captain Peter D. Vroom in the 2nd Battalion.  The men of NJ were engaged at the Battle of Germantown in October 1777, and Jacobus met his fate there on the 4th.

Since 1775, more than 1.2 million have given their life for this land.  That's a staggering number, but what is more staggering is how many were left behind grieving for those who were sacrificed on the alter of freedom.  What about those who didn't die in battle but were wearing the uniform? So many more lives lost, and shattered by the loss.  

Memorial Day is far more than picnics, grills, and sunshine.  However, by all means, do attend these events because we live in a great land; paid for in blood by so many.  But, take a moment to pay your respects, even if silently to yourself.  Honor them, even for just the slightest of moments.  They earned that much.

Remember them; remember their sacrifice.