Memorial Day was created to honor military service members who never made it home.
Memorial Day has become a long weekend for a lot of us.
Sales.
Cookouts.
Pool days.
Matching red, white, and blue outfits.
A day off work.
And listen… there’s nothing wrong with gathering with people you love.
But somewhere along the way, many of us stopped asking why this day exists in the first place.
Memorial Day was created to honor military service members who never made it home.
Not veterans in general.
Not active duty members.
Not “people who served” in the broadest sense.
This day specifically exists for those who died serving this country.
And if we’re honest, most of us were never really taught how to sit with that reality beyond a quick history lesson in school.
We weren’t taught about the mothers who folded flags with trembling hands.
The spouses who had to rebuild their lives.
The children who grew up with stories instead of memories.
The communities forever changed because someone never came home.
That’s why I think reading matters so much.
Books slow us down long enough to feel the humanity behind history.
Not the polished movie version.
Not the quick social media summary.
The human version.
The fear.
The loyalty.
The sacrifice.
The grief.
The courage.
The aftermath.
And as a veteran, one thing my time in service taught me is that military history is far more layered and diverse than many of us realize.
I’ve always cared deeply about learning the stories that often get overlooked.
I understood what the Double V Campaign meant from a Black American perspective. The fight for victory abroad against fascism while still fighting for equality at home.
I teach my daughter about the Tuskegee Airmen.
About the Red Tails.
About the Black service members who defended a country that did not always fully defend them.
I’ve also spent time intentionally learning about the experiences of women in service and the ways their sacrifices are often minimized or erased in larger conversations about military history.
But while I was serving, another service member challenged my perspective in a way I’ll never forget.
We were having a conversation about representation and military history, and they brought up Filipino service members and their role in World War II.
And honestly?
I realized how little I knew.
That moment checked me.
Not in a cruel way.
In a necessary way.
Because I realized I had unknowingly created blind spots while believing I was already “aware.”
Since then, my perspective has changed.
I started learning more about the thousands of Filipino soldiers who fought alongside Americans during WWII.
About the Bataan Death March.
About the sacrifices made by Filipino troops.
About the years many veterans spent fighting for the recognition and benefits they had been promised.
And the more I learned, the more I realized how easy it is to treat military service like a monolith.
As if every person who served experienced service the same way.
As if sacrifice looks identical across race, culture, gender, sexuality, nationality, and generation.
But it doesn’t.
There are deeply diverse, beautiful, painful, courageous histories connected to military service.
Black service members.
Filipino service members.
Women in service.
LGBTQ+ service members.
Indigenous service members.
Immigrant families.
Entire communities whose stories rarely get centered despite their sacrifices shaping this country in lasting ways.
Their stories matter too.
And I think Memorial Day becomes more meaningful when we allow ourselves to sit with that complexity instead of only engaging the holiday through cookouts and sales ads.
That’s why I’m spending part of this weekend reading.
Not out of obligation.
But out of remembrance.
So if you want to go deeper too, here are a few books worth picking up:
📖 “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
A haunting reflection on war, memory, fear, and survival.
📖 “The Yellow Birds” by Kevin Powers
Beautifully written and deeply honest about the emotional aftermath of war.
📖 “Redeployment” by Phil Klay
Raw, eye opening stories about modern military life and what happens after service members return home.
📖 “Code Talker” by Joseph Bruchac
An essential story honoring Navajo Marines whose language became a vital military code during WWII.
📖 “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand
An unforgettable true story of endurance, survival, and resilience.
📖 “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
A powerful look at women who served during the Vietnam War and the ways history often overlooked them afterward.
📖 “Ghost Soldiers” by Hampton Sides
A gripping account tied to the Bataan Death March and the sacrifices of Filipino and American soldiers during WWII.
📖 “America Is in the Heart” by Carlos Bulosan
A foundational Filipino American work exploring identity, labor, migration, and belonging.
📖 “Patron Saints of Nothing” by Randy Ribay
A moving exploration of grief, identity, and Filipino history through a contemporary lens.
📖 “Conduct Unbecoming” by Randy Shilts
An important look at the experiences of LGBTQ+ service members throughout military history.
Reading won’t fix everything.
But it can expand us.
It can challenge our assumptions.
It can deepen our empathy.
It can remind us that remembrance should include all the people whose sacrifices shaped this country.
And honestly, that feels like a better way to honor Memorial Day than pretending history fits neatly into one narrative.
If thoughtful conversations, curated reading lists, and deeper literary reflections like this resonate with you, you can support my work and buy me a coffee.
Your support helps me continue creating intentional reader spaces and meaningful conversations that go beyond surface level content.
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