Monday, May 27, 2002
Holiday takes on deeper meaning
In wake of Sept. 11 attacks, Memorial Day for many no longer just a long weekend
By Tom O'Neill, toneill@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The tree began to take root about the same time the United States of America did. Last fall, both were cut down.
This morning, both stand tall.
An 8-foot section of a tree trunk from Anderson Township with Old Glory carved into it, will be featured in today's 50th Annual Blue Ash Civic League Community Parade, where interest in participating has soared not just among veterans' groups, but also community organizations, businesses and individuals.
This Memorial Day has been reshaped by Sept. 11, with events reflecting heightened appreciation for those who defend our freedom, and those who died that day.
“It's all influenced by Sept. 11,” said Tim Back, 43, president of Back Tree Service in Forest Park. “It's beautiful. It's a reflection of our pride and strength and unity. We're all American.”
Gov. Bob Taft issued a resolution urging Ohioans to join in a national moment of remembrance at 3 p.m. today. On Friday, he paid special tribute to the Ohioans killed Sept. 11 and presented state flags to their family members.
Thank yous go both ways.
In November, Mr. Back, 43, of Brookville, Ind., cut the dying tree from an Anderson Township front yard. It was 200 years old or more.
He typically would have sold it for mulch or firewood, or to a lumber yard.
Instead, he saw it as a canvas of sorts.
“I think, collectively, everybody has identified very strongly with what this particular holiday means,” said Blue Ash Assistant City Manager Bruce Henry, who doubles as the city's safety director. “And in general, it's a sense of respect and healing from 9-11.”
He's been getting calls like that for weeks. One came from Mr. Back, who saved the bottom of the tree, which is 16 feet around. A professional woodworker carved the American flag into it in two days. It will be decorated for the day.
The tree, which may have been a seedling around the time of the Revolutionary War, won Best of Show at last month's Cincinnati Flower Show in Ault Park.
For years, some veterans have expressed disappointment that the holiday to honor them seemed to have been reduced to an excuse for a three-day weekend of burgers and sunscreen.
Fred Piepenbring, 76, of Clifton served in the U.S. Army in World War II, mostly in the Pacific. He was in Okinawa, Japan, in 1943 and said Friday he had a simple Memorial Day message for young Americans:
“Just love America.”
Thirty-year-old Sam Alaiydi does.
Born in Palestine, he grew up in Orlando, Fla., from age 3 and has been a downtown Cincinnati resident for eight months. Now a U.S. citizen, he said newcomers to the States are less likely to take freedom's rights and responsibilities for granted.
“It's pitiful that it's taking something so tragic to unite people,” he said of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. “For people in other countries, the vision they have of the U.S. is freedom and equal opportunity. So everybody has expectations.”
He said he's cautiously optimistic that the American pride fueled by Sept. 11 will endure.
“Everything fades, you know,” he said, “but I hope it doesn't.”
In Colerain Township, a sea of small American flags colored Sunday afternoon's annual event at Crown Hill Memorial Park, one of several Memorial Day events in the township.
In past years, organizers have handed out free flags to veterans — though, actually, anyone who asked got one.
Typically, they give away about 300 flags, but were ready with 470 to give away this year.
“We have some left but we still have tomorrow to go,” event co-coordinator Jackie Wright said Sunday. “We've had more calls. I really truly do think it's due to Sept. 11. We were just commenting on how many people were coming into the park earlier. We didn't see that before.”
Another thing you might not have heard at previous Memorial Days was a mention of police officers and firefighters. At Landmark Baptist Temple in Evendale on Sunday, where two New York City police officers spoke in November, a ceremony honored them.
“Definitely interest was heightened by Sept. 11,” said Catherine Lawrence, a pastor's assistant at Landmark. “That's the thing that's changed, not just the appreciation, but for who. The police and firemen, it's changed our view.”
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