Remember on Memorial Day

Omaha Beach, 2019 (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

No long post today. I have literally nothing more to add than to post a link to a story written by Susan.

It's her final Memorial Day section -- a special portion of the Darien Times that she actually had to fight to get published over these last few years.

That, in and of itself, is sad. Susan knew her community and the relationship it felt with the paper. Not everyone gets that.

When she asked me about a dedication for this year's edition, I suggested she thank everyone, with specific regard to those lost (it is Memorial Day after all). It felt like the perfect approach. I knew what Memorial Day meant to her. I knew what her friendship with the late Gene Coyle meant as well and I'm so sorry I forgot to mention him in my speech honoring Susan on Friday. Speaker's regret.

I also didn't mention Susan's father. I really suck.

Anyway, I know her dedication was along those lines and I take no credit because I also know she was thinking of something similar.

Anyway, this is probably the final special Memorial Day section in the Darien Times and I think that's terrible. It shows that Susan understood the community she covered. A community journalist entrenches themselves. They're not there for clicks or cheap stories. They're there to tell the stories without bias and with integrity.

They sit and cry with you and laugh with you and let you yell at them (sometimes to the point of it being abusive).

There's so much more I'd like to say and names that I'd like to name but, as with all stories, they take time to tell.

Like this one, told by Susan, which begins in 1942.

And thank you, brave souls, for your sacrifice so that we can have the freedom that we have.

(Please note: if the Hearst overlords don't allow you to see this story because they want you to pay for it, go here. The story should be read.)