TRUE MEANING OF MEMORIAL DAY LOST IN HOLIDAY BARBECUES.

Byline: James Bemis Commentary

Students know Memorial Day signals the bell lap ending another school year. Moms, viewing the onset of summer with the same anticipation as receiving child-rearing advice from the in-laws, swear the long weekend comes around twice as fast as any other day. Dads anticipate Father's Day, the one day they don't feel overworked and underappreciated, is just around the corner. Astute shoppers search for bargains on hot dogs, charcoal and beer.

For most others, Memorial Day starts the clock ticking toward their two- week vacation, and those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. (Apologies to Nat King Cole.) Have we forgotten anyone?

As a matter of fact, we have.

Formerly called Decoration Day, Memorial Day was established in 1868 by Gen. John A. Logan, commander of the Union Army. It was meant, Logan said, to be a day for ``strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.''

Logan knew well how quickly the losses of war could pass from memory and thus recommended a national day of remembrance. ``If other eyes should grow dull and other hands slack and other hearts cold in solemn trust,'' he said, ``ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remains in us.''

So on May 30 of each year (later changed to the last Monday in May), he proposed that our nation would ``at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest of flowers of springtime, and let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor.''

But I'm afraid that, despite Logan's good intentions, in the crush of picnics, softball games and backyard barbecues, we've lost track of who Memorial Day is intended to memorialize in the first place - those who gave their lives for this country.

Maybe it's a sign of our times, but it surely doesn't reflect well on us that such an important and solemn occasion is now so lightly regarded. I suspect few people visit the grave of a veteran on this holiday to remember and give thanks. Even fewer attend parades or other public events commemorating the fallen members of our armed forces.

Most people can't seem to find the time to honor freedom's defenders, who died in places such as Shiloh and Antietam, Normandy and Iwo Jima, Khe Sanh and Pleiku. Don't both trying to go to a movie that day, though, because theaters will be packed - it's one of Hollywood's biggest weekends.

Ironically, our complacency toward the military stems from its very success. National defense is no longer much on our minds. The big bad Russian bear no longer threatens, and China presently poses no immediate armed danger - due, in large part, to our seemingly invincible combat forces. Our nation's borders never seemed more secure.

But this is even more reason for us - not threatened by invasion or conflict, no nuclear sword of Damocles dangling over our heads - to reflect upon why the abundant fruits of freedom are available. In great measure, it's because many Americans answered their nation's call to duty on behalf of their compatriots - past, present and future - asking that they now repay their forefathers' sacrifices with those of their own.

To their credit, they responded. To our shame, we've forgotten.