JUNE 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 6.2

DARYL LOTT
daryl’s deliberations
Number Four Thousand, Four
Hundred, and Seventy Four
Memorial Day seems to me to
gain more importance very year.
Maybe it’s because as one ages,
thoughts of mortality and life
experience generally reveal just
how fragile life is. In our country,
Memorial Day marks the beginning
of Summer, but in doing so,
remembers the ends of life for
the people who gave their “last
full measure of devotion,” as
President Lincoln so eloquently
put it. Gold Star Families gather
to remember the loved ones lost
in the never ending fight between
good and evil. Those sacrifices
are beyond the description
mere words attempt to convey.
Every jubilant victory in battle
is tempered with the thoughts
that not everyone survived. In my
own family, the Battle of Midway
and the Air War Over Hitler’s
Germany produced tide turning
victories for our country, but our
family lost a sailor (Garland Lott)
on the “USS Yorktown” and an
airman (Edgar Lott) on the B-17
“Lady Liberty.” Neither body was
recovered. In the case of missing
or unrecoverable remains,
our country honors the fallen
with symbolic resting places as
they are memorialized on official
cenotaphs. Garland’s name
appears on the cenotaph at the
National Cemetery of the Pacific
in Hawaii. Edgar’s name is etched
on the cenotaph at the Netherlands
American Cemetery not
far from where his aircraft was
blown out of the sky.
Cenotaphs are not the exact
same as a memorial. A cenotaph
only contains the names of
the missing or those with unrecoverable
remains. The largest
and most famous cenotaph in
Texas is located at the Alamo.
The Alamo defenders’ bodies
were unceremoniously burned
in a pyre by a madman dictator.
Therefore, the sacred cenotaph
in the Alamo Plaza is their symbolic
final resting place.
This Memorial Day I draw your
attention to a photo accompanying
this essay. I encourage the
reader to study the young man
pictured in the photograph. At
first glance he appears to be a
handsome lad with a bright future.
One could say he represents
the blossoming of the best of
American youth.
His hometown is listed as
Greensboro, North Carolina. I can
tell you that he played outside
linebacker on the Northeast H.S.
Rams football team. He was their
team captain and graduated in
the Class of 2006. After high
school, he attended college, but
found out that it wasn’t really for
him. He joined the Army in 2009.
He didn’t have to go too far
from home as he was assigned
to the 82nd Airborne Division out
of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He
went to Iraq as a Specialist with
the 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
Specialist David E. Hickman was
on a police type of patrol in
Baghdad. He was patrolling in an
armored vehicle when a roadside
bomb exploded and ripped
through his patrol vehicle. Specialist
Hickman has the distinction
of not only being a brave
and dedicated soldier, but his
is the last combat death in Iraq.
As such, I consider this gallant
young man to be representative
of all of our loved and lost
Americans in Iraq.
There were a total of 4,474
young Americans who gave
their lives in the War on Terror
in Iraq. They did not sell their
lives cheaply. There were 23,984
enemy combatants killed in
Iraq, leading to freedom for the
Iraqi people and security in our
homeland.
The other photo that accompanies
this essay is of the only
memorial at this time to those
Americans who paid the ultimate
price in Iraq and Afghanistan. It
is called the “Northwood Gratitude
and Honor Memorial” and
it contains the names of all the
fallen heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The memorial is located in
Irvine, California. There are other
active funding projects to honor
our heroes of the War on Terror
in other locations. If any reader
feels so inclined to donate, I am
sure the projects are worthy.
Have a blessed Memorial Day
and enjoy the freedom you
posses as a result of others
who were willing to give everything
they had to provide
it. Remember the Gold Star
families who bear a disproportionate
burden in the quest
for freedom and justice among
men and nations. God Bless the
United States of America.
92 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 93