In Memoriam

By Holliday

Memorial Day never really struck me as one of the big holidays of the year. It was married to a day off of work (which I never got) rather than what was to be remembered. Grade school seems to implement a sort of “holiday ranking system”. The more days off of school one receives for any given holiday the more important and exciting the holiday is. To be honest, I, an American, had to Google Memorial Day this year.

For those who are not Americans (we are quite diverse here at Aelon.net), Memorial Day is quite simple. It is the day we remember those who fought and died in service for our country. From usmemorialday.org:

Memorial Day used to be a sacred day that was reserved for the remembrance of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Businesses closed for the day. Towns held parades honoring the fallen, the parade routes often times ending at a local cemetery, where Memorial Day speeches were then given. People took the time that day to clean and decorate with flowers and flags the graves of those the fell in service to their country.

In our fashion Memorial Day has become a retail and convenience holiday. It is a three day weekend where we have BBQ’s and parties. The real day of remembrance has vanished in a way.

Believe it or not, the real focus of this blog entry is to demonstrate how games have penetrated into our culture and can work to bring people together. No I don’t mean the kind of unification resulting in somebody’s mother’s sexual orientation being called into question. Nor do I mean a sample of today’s youth getting fired up over a peer’s desire for chocolate milk. So what do I mean? Listen to my story.

My father is a proud, reserved and very patriotic man. He is not blind towards his countries faults, but he maintains a strong respect for the founding principles of our nation. He also has an insatiable appetite for books. I once asked him why he read so many books on wars. He simply replied “Because what these men did should never be forgotten.” The man maintains so much knowledge he is not often liked at dinner table discussions. Well, at least not by those who argue against him.

So this Memorial Day I am relaxing, after a cook-out no less, with a little bit of Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360. I had finished off the British campaign in the last play and was just about to start the American’s at D-Day. Since the game is visually stunning I popped my head in the living room and said to my father “Hey, the Allies are landing at D-Day, want to watch?”. He came on in and I started it up.

I hadn’t heard much about CoD2’s version of D-Day; I just assumed it would be a bigger and better Omaha landing than Medal of Honor did years ago. As soon as Call of Duty’s trademark journal loading screen popped up though it said “Pointe-du-Hoc”. My father replied “Oh, this will be the US Rangers, they climbed the bluffs with grappling hooks, there should be large hook launchers mounted on the landing crafts.” Cue the fade in and, sure enough, the hooks were there. As the hooks fired off onto the bluffs and hell broke loose on the beach my father starting pointing out things left and right. As I grabbed the rope to ascend the bluffs he said “Watch out, the Germans would just roll grenades off the cliffs and let them explode in mid-air.” Moments later two guys ahead of me came crashing down from the airborne shrapnel of exactly that. This was only the beginning.

As we fought tooth and nail through the top bunkers he told me why they built trench systems in zig-zag patterns (so one lucky enemy couldn’t wipe out a whole swoop of troops from the side had they snuck in, if you’re interested). He pointed out the curiously arranged telephone poles where the old 150mm guns, our target, should have been (the Germans had moved them back 4 miles and replaced them with telephone poles to fool air reconnaissance). As I caught site of the real guns later I was hesitant to dive in but he said “Don’t worry, the allies caught most of the German division having breakfast, no one was manning the guns, they weren’t even aimed at Omaha.” Sure enough, the guns were unguarded. He even explained the kind of charges I was setting on the gun: “Notice where you are placing them? Its on that elevation mechanism, they are just thermite charges that become so hot they melt and cut through metal. The gun itself is useless if you cannot aim it.” Through those and other details the whole experience was far more entertaining. My father was pretty thrilled with the accuracy and presentation of the game (Call of Duty 2 is very watchable and cinematic).

The latter half of that mission involves a constant retreat from the German counter attack. They sent an entire division after the 225 Rangers that landed. The retreat is bloody and very intense. Enemies are everywhere and you never get a spare moment to collect yourself. You are constantly running backwards from cover to cover. Soon tanks start to thunder over the landscape and half-tracks plague any open movement. Their counter assault drives you all the way back to the cliffs you climbed. Tanks pound over the trenches and everywhere you look there are enemies firing away. You’re squad has gotten noticeably (or shall I say severely) smaller and you just can’t seem to gain any ground at all. Then the glorious air force comes to your rescue and bombs the hell out of the German forces. As the enemies fall and your allies shout for joy the screen slowly fades as an overlay of Ronald Reagan’s Pointe-du-Hoc speech grows louder. The clip of the speech ends with: “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.” My father gets up, slowly and subtly nods at me, and exits the room.

I’ve played a lot of World War II games. I’ve shot up countless numbers of Axis troops. I’ve been in the trenches and stuck in the hedges. I’ve driven tanks and charged, unarmed, through Russia. But never have I experienced it like I did this Memorial Day. Not only did it give me a profound respect for the men, and all men, who have fought and died in war. It brought my father and I together. I cannot really leave you with much to comment on. I just thought you might enjoy a story about a holiday that does not often get its due.