SIDESTEPS

May 26 is Memorial Day and it’s not just another holiday, a three-day weekend or the unofficial start of summer in Minnesota.

Really.

It may be a three-day weekend, and it may signal the start of summer, even though we have had plenty of early summer temperatures of plus 90 degrees this month, followed by vile winds, cool temperatures, blowing everything and rains of sticks.

It is the day we are supposed to honor and remember those who died while serving in the United States military. We are to honor their sacrifice. It is not a day to greet one another with “Happy Memorial Day.” It’s insensitive. And it’s not a day to say to “thank you for your service,” probably the only day of the year that isn’t a good idea.

We should be flying our flags, attending the parade in Owatonna (it starts at 9:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Church on Elm Street and ends at the fairgrounds) and attending the Memorial Day program at the Four Seasons Centre.

And, dear readers three, there have been millions for us to honor. Memorial Day, called Decoration Day at its inception on May 30, 1868, was moved to the last Monday in May during the reconciliation of holidays to match Mondays and provide for longer holiday weekends. The powers that be did leave July 4 on July 4, Christmas Day on Dec. 25 and New Year’s Day on Jan. 1. I am grateful for those constants.

In the tabulation of United States military casualties of war, the total casualties include wounded, combat and non-combat deaths (accidents, illness and self-inflicted deaths) but do not include those who were listed as missing in action.

Statistics collected by the government (ours) list 651,031 battle deaths from 1775-1991 and another 539,054 from non-combat deaths or 1.119 million lost souls. Just to be more confusing, it continues with 60,770 recorded deaths from 1980-2022 but lists 50,789 of those deaths from accidents, illnesses or suicides.

Statisticians rank wars by the total number of U.S. military deaths. Topping the list (sometimes) is the American Civil War, 1861-65, with 655,000 deaths or more than 2 percent of the population of 31.4 million in 1861. Its other position is two, since it can be considered that the Confederate soldiers were not U.S. soldiers and then the deaths are listed at 204,100.

World War II is either one or two, depending on how you fall on the Confederate issue. Our losses in the 1941-45 war were 405,399. Other wars deaths are: World War 1, 116,516; Vietnam, 58,209; Korea, 36,574; Revolutionary War, 25,000 (estimate), War of 1812, 15,000 (estimate), Mexican-American War, 13,283; Iraq, 4,576; Philippine-American War, 4,196; Afghanistan, 2,432 and Spanish-American War, 2,246.

All lives are valuable. And all the sacrifices are honored, especially on Memorial Day.

Jan Mittelstadt Tippett is a retired publisher who lives in Owatonna.