My Memorial Day 2015

This Memorial Day was special for me. In the past it has always been about parades and barbecues– and enjoying a long weekend with my family. I would watch clips of memorial services on the news, and I would appreciate the tributes both nationally and locally.  However, I never felt a true connection until I discovered that I am directly related to a soldier from the Civil War.

My great, great grandfather Florence Burke fought as a Union Soldier for the Massachusetts 37th Regiment.  He left his young wife and three children to serve his newly adopted country. What’s more he spared the life of a wealthy man, taking his draft and heading to the battlefields in exchange for a parcel of farm land. He took a gamble with his life.

​A few weeks ago, on a random check to ancestry.com, I noticed that a new subscriber had posted a photo of Florence Burke’s tombstone! I was shocked because I was under the impression that no memorial existed. I had researched this many times and I found his wife Ellen and a few of his children’s graves, but not his. When I saw the photograph and read the engraved message, I just knew I had to go see it and honor him.

​My husband, daughter Jillian and I set off this past Saturday to find this graveyard. Luckily the subscriber who posted the picture mentioned the name of the cemetery, so we had a good idea of where we were going.  In the back of my mind though, I was hoping that the cemetery was not too big because we had no idea where the tombstone was in this graveyard.  After an easy two hour drive we were nearing Springfield so I googled the cemetery for an exact address. Unfortunately it only gave a street name (with no number) but there was a phone, number so I called it. To my surprise a woman answered and told me that St. Benedict’s is a relatively small burial ground, and she gave me directions while we drove which were very helpful. Even with her guidance, we missed the tiny, hidden entrance three times because it is off a rotary making it difficult and even dangerous to turn quickly into the cemetery.

​Well, we finally made it here!  Now all we had to do was locate his tombstone. At first it looked manageable because there were probably only a few hundred stones, but as we broke apart to search, we soon realized that this was not an easy task. I had a print out of the photo, but the person taking the picture had zoomed in on the inscription so we had no clues to its true shape or size, or whether it was flat of upright.  I did know that my great, great grandfather’s tombstone appeared newer than many of the old stones we were looking at. It was sad to see many stones had fallen over or had crumbled in parts and some were illegible due to weather and time. 

​We walked around the old cemetery, looking carefully at the Irish names on the stones, many with regiments or battle names listed on them. Finally, after thirty minutes of searching and deciphering letters on these old stones, I found my great, great grandfather’s gravesite! I called to my husband and daughter and we gathered around his prominent, fairly new tombstone. We surmised that some relative must have commissioned this for him in recent years—and I couldn’t have been happier. We placed our flowers at the foot of the tombstone and dug our little American flag into the soil. I led my family in a small prayer then bowed my head to honor the man who inspired me to write my first novel. 

I can’t say that I’ve ever had a more meaningful Memorial Day. I truly understand the tributes that are given to the brave men and woman who have died fighting for our country. They deserve all the respect, recognition and honor that we can bestow upon them. They are true heroes.