Memorial Day: Remembering my American hero

I do not personally know anyone who died in America’s wars.

My uncles all returned from World War II. My father was 4F.

My friends all returned from Vietnam. I was a young father and exempt. To this day I struggle with whether I missed something worthwhile by not serving in the military.

Most of my friends say no, but a few disagree — strongly.

But Memorial Day doesn’t honor service — it commemorates those who did not return, those who in Lincoln’s words “gave the last full measure of devotion.”

I have visited a number of military cemeteries, but two stand out:  Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, the final resting place of more than 400,000 Americans, and Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France, where 9,388 Americans rest, most lost on June 6, 1944, and the weeks immediately after the invasion. 

When I visited the excruciatingly beautiful and sad Normandy cemetery, I felt I needed to personalize it for me. I walked up and down the rows of identical tombstones, all angled west to face America, whose soil they would never again feel. Each tree’s leaves were shaped into a crisp triangle, with the pointy top cut off flat, to represent the unfulfilled lives of those resting there.

Some smart people made some amazing, caring, heartful decisions.

I walked the rows of tombstones and found the grave of a Pennsylvanian: Pfc. Eake De Marco, 16th Infantry, 1st Division, died on D-Day.

Standing at his cross, I thanked him for what he did for me. His sacrifice paid for my freedom. His was a life unlived, as is true for almost all buried in the soil above Omaha beach.

When I had told people I would be visiting the Normandy cemetery, many asked whether I knew anyone buried there.

I now know Pfc. Eake De Marco.

A quick Google search told me that Pfc. De Marco, 22, from Reading, had been awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. I didn’t explore further because he was not central to my story, published in the Inquirer on May 31, 2019.

After that story ran, I was contacted by Ed Mikus, an amateur military historian, and I learned a lot more about Eake De Marco.

Mikus found family members who we visited, and I learned they also had visited his grave in Normandy.

Pfc. Eake De Marco is not forgotten.

No service member should be.

Take a minute on Memorial Day to thank those who made the ultimiate sacrifice so that we can live in peace and freedom.