By MINDI MESSMER and TAM SIEKMANN
Memorial Day weekend is typically one spent at beach parties or barbecues. But it is a weekend set aside to honor our military heroes who have died while serving our country. This includes many who are now elderly or have service-related health issues incurred while protecting the rest of our freedom.
Americans are experiencing the challenges of adapting to stay-at-home orders, quarantines, self-isolation. Going to the grocery store, the pharmacy, or the gas station can be challenging and scary since many people are likely to not show symptoms of COVID-19 but still may infect others.
We are anxious to get back to “normal” life, but in the process, we are becoming numb to needless loss of the servicemen and others who have protected our freedom, nurtured us, contributed to our economy by working their whole lives, and provide perspective for us and our children with their wisdom.
As I write this, 208 people have died whose deaths are directly attributed to COVID-19 in NH?—?about 149 of them in long-term care facilities. Nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been hotbeds of infections. Staff move between the facilities and our communities continuously bringing the disease and infecting our most vulnerable who are sitting ducks for the disease.
There are faces to the 208 names. Here are two of them.
George Sedach was in the Derry Center for Rehabilitation and enlisted in the U.S. Army on February 20, 1946, and was stationed in Austria, serving as a Russian interpreter. He was awarded the Army of Occupation Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. Died of COVID-19.
Raymond Kohler, 72, served in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged on Sept. 24, 1972, at the rank of Specialist?—?SP4. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal?—?he died of COVID-19.
People are dying alone, due to the threat of contagion, with no loved ones to hold their hands or be by their side. Some suffer from memory loss or dementia making it exceptionally difficult to be locked down without seeing their family members or understanding why.
Please, in memoriam on Memorial Day and beyond, wear a mask or face covering to return the favor to prevent transmission of the disease and protect our most vulnerable. They have sacrificed so much for the rest of us.
Mindi Messmer is an environmental and public health scientist and a candidate for the Executive Council in District 3. Tam Siekmann is the wife of a Marine Corps veteran, Chair of the Londonderry Democrats and the NHDP Veteran’s Caucus.