You never know what is going to impact you at any given time. If I were to ask my sons what their most impactful memory from a movie was, I am sure it would have to do with a character or a scene from one of the Marvel movies. One of their superheroes. 

They have grown up with these characters flying through the air and performing other worldly stunts all in the name of justice or liberty or awesome CGI. Any way you slice it this is the world that boys their age live in. 

In the summer of 1998, some of my friends and I got together to go see a new release at a small movie theater in Gilford, New Hampshire. We bought our tickets, and as this was a later showing, we were not surprised to see only two other people in the theater. Of course, being young and not mindful of others, we paid them no mind. We passed them on our way to our seats and waited for the show to start. 

With the opening scenes unlike any movie we had ever seen before it was evident that this experience would be a little different. By the time Tom Hanks uttered the words, “I will see you on the beach” in Saving Private Ryan my friends and I were speechless. We did not make a sound. 

In fact, the only sound that could be heard amongst the sounds of the movie were the two gentlemen in the back of the theater. Those same gentlemen that we passed not 15 minutes before could be heard several rows away. Their muffled tears only grew throughout the movie. By the closing credits the gentlemen were sobbing to themselves. 

As my friends and I got up to leave after the credits the two men were still there. Sitting in their seats, faces partially covered by their hands, they were wiping their tears away. It was only then that I could see these men were in their 70s and one was wearing a ball cap emblazoned with the emblem of the 101st Airborne Division. The famed Screaming Eagles. 

These men were of the right age to have been a part of the war. They may have had friends or family that never made it home. They grew up in an era where they knew the love and the loss of a close friend who had so much to give. Assuredly, they understood the results of actions taken so far away and how those actions have lasting consequences. 

I have remembered those two men sitting in that movie theater. I have remembered their sobs. I have remembered their seeming embarrassment in wanting to hide their emotions in that darkly lit room. I remember it yearly at about this time. 

In a time when it seems that the battlefield is a video screen from somewhere far away it is easy to forget that there are men and women who are much closer to the dangers. Sometimes those dangers have tragic consequences. 

And so, it is that we have this upcoming day, Memorial Day. For many it means that there is an extra day to relax and unwind. There is a chance to have a barbecue. There is a chance to do anything that you want. But we only have that extra day because of the sacrifice that was offered up by so many others. 

Their names are as varied as we are. Field, Gordon, Cash or Brochu. Each of these Mainer’s had hopes and dreams, goals and ambitions. All were changed in an instant. These are the people we should remember always. These are the people who should be celebrated daily. 

As you take in the weekend remember this, for every one of our todays someone had to give up all of their tomorrows. When you think about a superhero, just know that real superheroes don’t wear capes, they wear a small American flag patch on their shoulder. 

Have a safe Memorial Day and please remember all of those heroes who never got to come home. 

Jonathan Crimmins can be reached at j_crimmins@hotmail.com 

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