The Unbroken Chain: From the Beaches of Normandy to the Dust of Afghanistan

The Unbroken Chain: From the Beaches of Normandy to the Dust of Afghanistan

Meaning of Memorial Day By Glen Pierce, Operator of Topsail.fish

To find the meaning of Memorial Day, one only has to look at a quiet morning on Topsail Island—the sound of the surf, families gathering on the sand, and the peace of casting a line into the ocean at sunrise. It is easy to take that peace for granted. But as a Navy veteran who served at the tail end of the Vietnam War, I am deeply aware that the tranquil life we enjoy here was bought at a staggering price.

Every year around this time, there is often a bit of confusion about what this holiday actually means. People often mix up Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Veterans Day, in November, is when we honor all those who served in uniform—the living who walked among us and returned home. The meaning of Memorial Day is different. It is a solemn day explicitly reserved for those who didn’t make it home. It is a day for the fallen.

However, to fully comprehend this sacrifice, it helps to look at the heavy burdens carried by the living veterans who survived.

The Burdens of the Living and the Meaning of Memorial Day: John Parker

I think of a very good friend of mine, John Parker. John was an early Vietnam veteran who served during the height of the conflict in the 1960s. When John and his brothers-in-arms returned to American soil, they weren’t met with parades. Instead, they experienced the bitter hate, disrespect, and vitriol of a divided nation.

Decades have passed since then, but the war never truly ended for John. To this day, he carries the relentless nightmares of that conflict. When we look at living veterans like John, we see the staggering, ongoing cost of service—the invisible wounds that time cannot heal. John carries those nightmares because he survived. But on this weekend, veterans like John are thinking of the men who never got the chance to come home and have nightmares. They think of the ones left behind in the jungle.

A Promise Kept: Sir William Pepe | Meaning of Memorial Day

That same lifelong duty to remember is what drove another dear friend of mine, Sir William Pepe. Bill was a decorated World War II veteran who landed on the blood-soaked sands of Normandy on D-Day with the 5th Engineer Special Brigade.

Some of you who frequent this site might know that I maintain his old webpage: wpepe.com. In his later years, Bill felt a burning need to write down his experiences so the world would never forget what his generation endured. He built his website entirely by himself; I just helped him with a few minor technical pieces. Before Bill passed away in April of 2017, I made him a solemn promise: I will keep your website alive as long as I am able. Bill survived D-Day and lived a long life, but like John, he carried the ghosts of the brothers-in-arms who fell beside him on that beach for the rest of his days. He spent his final years ensuring their ultimate sacrifice wouldn’t be forgotten.

A Heavy Milestone: LCpl Taylor John Baune

Decades after Bill stepped off a landing craft in France, and decades after John patrolled the jungles of Vietnam, a young man named Taylor John Baune answered that exact same call to duty. Taylor was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, stationed just down the road from us at Camp Lejeune.

In 2012, while deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, LCpl Baune was killed by a roadside bomb. He was only 21 years old. He had been married for just three months.

To the national news networks, Taylor became a historic statistic: he was officially the 2,000th American service member killed in the war in Afghanistan. But to his family, his fellow Marines at Lejeune, and to our coastal military community, he wasn’t a milestone. He was a son, a husband, and a hero who gave up a lifetime of tomorrows. He became the very definition of what this day is about.

The Unbroken Chain | Meaning of Memorial Day

What does a D-Day veteran who lived into his 90s, a Vietnam veteran carrying the invisible wounds of a hostile era, and a 21-year-old Marine who fell in Afghanistan have in common?

Everything. They are chapters in the very same book.

The extraordinary courage required to face the machine guns at Normandy is the exact same courage required to patrol the jungles of Vietnam or a dusty road in Helmand Province. The grief felt by American families in 1944 is identical to the grief felt by the Baune family in 2012.

Men like Bill Pepe and Taylor Baune are the true definition of heroes. My role has simply been to listen to them, to honor them, and—in Bill’s case—to keep a promise that his words will remain online for the world to see. We cannot let the names of the fallen fade into the digital background.

The Meaning of Memorial Day on the Water

If you are heading out past the breakers this weekend, or just sitting on the beach enjoying the Topsail sunshine, please take just one minute of silence.

Think of veterans like John Parker, who still carry the heavy weight of their service. Think of Sir William Pepe, who fought so that we could live in a free country. And most of all, on this specific day, think of LCpl Taylor John Baune, who never got the chance to grow old.

Their sacrifice bought the peace we enjoy on the water today. Let us never, ever forget them.