Memorial Day’s origins are rooted in the wreckage of the Civil War — when communities on both sides of a shattered nation began gathering at cemeteries to lay flowers on soldiers’ graves.

They called it Decoration Day. It was grief made visible.

But the name “Memorial Day” crept into common usage after World War II — after the nation had absorbed another inestimable loss — and was officially codified into federal law in 1967.

On Memorial Day several years ago, I ran into a friend. He was an Army officer with two tours in Afghanistan behind him. I thanked him for his service.

Kindly but firmly, he stopped me. Memorial Day, he said, isn’t for thanking the living. It’s for remembering the fallen.

A year later, that same friend — a colonel by then — gathered our families for a camping trip on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Memorial Day weekend. Beautiful weather. Nowhere else we needed to be.

While gathered around a campfire, my friend read something he’d written about a buddy who didn’t come home from Afghanistan.

He was a West Pointer, fiercely loyal, a baritone in the Army choir, self-deprecating — and strong as hell.

I wish I did, but I don’t remember the young lieutenant’s name.

Still, that conversation stayed with me.

And lately, I’ve been thinking about it again after reading an extraordinary account from my colleague Byron King, a former Navy officer who recently attended the Sea-Air-Space conference.

Your Rundown for Monday, May 25, 2026...

“Chowdah”

By chance, Byron found himself seated next to Captain Chris “Chowdah” Hill — one of the most battle-tested naval officers of the modern era.

“Chowdah,” as everyone calls him — a nod to his Massachusetts roots — commanded not one but two U.S. aircraft carriers during the Red Sea conflict (2023–2025) against Houthi attacks on commercial and Navy vessels.

Editor Byron King and Captain Chris “Chowdah” Hill at Sea-Air-Space 2026 [BWK photo]

According to Byron, no American captain has carried out back-to-back combat deployments like this in more than 80 years.

Days and nights under threat. Endless alarms. Drones overhead. Thousands of sailors depending on your judgment every hour of the day.

Byron describes it as “deckplate leadership at its finest.”

It’s a reminder that history is still carried forward by Americans willing to shoulder extraordinary burdens.

We see headlines about billion-dollar weapons systems, aircraft carriers and Pentagon budgets. We debate foreign policy from the comfort of our homes.

But in the end, service still comes down to people. People who volunteer to stand watch in dangerous places most Americans will never see firsthand.

And sometimes, people who never make it home.

That’s what Memorial Day is really all about.

Maybe that’s why Byron’s encounter with Captain Hill feels so fitting this Memorial Day.

Behind every decorated commander, seasoned officer and military story that survives the passage of time… there are names that don’t make it into the headlines.