The Free Press
Listen Now: A New Free Press Podcast That Will Change How You Think
NewslettersSign InSubscribe

Share this post

The Free Press
The Free Press
Things Worth Remembering: ‘Do Not Mourn Me Dead’
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Things Worth Remembering: ‘Do Not Mourn Me Dead’
(Photo by Library of Congress via Getty Images)
When I went to war, I wrote letters to my loved ones in case I never came home. Sullivan Ballou did too, and his words are a reminder of what Memorial Day is about.
By Elliot Ackerman
05.25.25 — Things Worth Remembering
--:--
--:--
Upgrade to Listen
5 mins
Produced by ElevenLabs using AI narration
280
794

Share this post

The Free Press
The Free Press
Things Worth Remembering: ‘Do Not Mourn Me Dead’
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Welcome to “Things Worth Remembering,” in which writers share a poem or a paragraph that all of us should commit to heart. This week, to mark Memorial Day, former Marine Elliot Ackerman reflects on a letter written by a soldier who never came home. His words remind us of the best way to honor the dead.

Of all American holidays, Memorial Day is beset by the most contradictions. Officially, it is a somber holiday, one where we honor our country’s war dead, but it is also the holiday that marks the unofficial beginning of summer. Over this long weekend, many of us will pull out our barbecues, or travel to our local beach, or check out the latest blockbuster. I grew up in a religious household and, for me, Memorial Day weekend meant it was the one Sunday I didn’t have to go to church; the Indy 500 was on, and I was allowed to watch the race with my dad.

Then I joined the Marines, and fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. After that, Memorial Day took on a different, more specific meaning for me. In the early years, I’d spend the day visiting the graves of friends buried at Arlington.

Many Americans don’t have any personal ties to our war dead, and so the remembrance part of Memorial Day is, for them, an abstraction. The first-ever Memorial Day was anything but abstract. It was celebrated in 1868, three years after the Civil War, a national bloodletting that killed one out of every 50 Americans. Back then, everyone knew someone lost in the war. The original idea was simple: The day would be used to decorate the graves of the fallen. It was proposed by John Logan, a retired Union officer, who understood how important it was to the dead that they not be forgotten. The truth is, anyone who has fought in a war, and had the good fortune to survive, understands this—because all of us have imagined our own deaths.

Maintaining The Free Press is Expensive!
To support independent journalism, and unlock all of our investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is, subscribe below.
Already have an account?
Sign In
Elliot Ackerman

Elliot Ackerman is a New York Times bestselling author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including the novels 2034, Waiting for Eden, and Dark at the Crossing, as well as the memoirs The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan and Places and Names: On War, Revolution and Returning. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, among others. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, a senior fellow at Yale's Jackson School of Global Affairs, and a veteran of the Marine Corps and CIA special operations, having served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He divides his time between New York City and Washington, D.C.

Tags:
Military
History
Family
Comments
Join the conversation
Share your thoughts and connect with other readers by becoming a paid subscriber!
Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

No posts

For Free People.
LatestSearchAboutCareersShopPodcastsVideoEvents
©2025 The Free Press. All Rights Reserved.Powered by Substack.
Privacy∙Terms∙Collection notice

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More