Guest said, "Without living memory, we are forced to repeat history."

You are confusing sentimentalizing with rationality. If honoring war dead actually resulted in an end to war, I'd be all for it. As it is, these government sponsored "official" miliatry holidays do nothing more than sentimentalize and nobilize the use of boys as cannon fodder.

I take back what I said about the 9/11 thing--there has been a definite increase in the number of teenage and twenty something boys who have been dazzled by the glamorization of "sacrificing for your country" propaganda in the wake of 9/11. It shows in the increased numbers enlisting in the military, so it follows that we'd see more teens and twenties at the Memorial Day celebrations.