DATE: Tuesday, May 27, 1997                 TAG: 9705270045

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   75 lines

MEMORIAL DAY'S TRUE MEANING IS LARGELY LOST ON LITTLE ONES

Amid the cookouts and the holiday sales, it can be hard for the average adult to realize that Memorial Day means more than just the beginning of summer.

It's even harder for children not old enough to remember something as recent as the Persian Gulf War.

``When you don't have a war going on, there's nothing to bring to the center stage the importance of Memorial Day,'' said John Sammons, a fourth-grade teacher at Greenbrier Intermediate School.

Still, every year for the past seven years, Sammons has brought his students' poetry honoring those who died in battle to the Memorial Day services at the Tidewater Veterans Memorial.

This year, the fourth-grade students' poetry, mounted on laminated flags, blew in the stiff Memorial Day breeze and rain Monday, just across a walkway from where flags stood bearing the names of those who had died in battle.

It's the kind of thing veterans would like to see more of from children, who they fear aren't being taught about the sacrifices that have been made for them.

``I don't think it means anything to them because they haven't experienced what it's like,'' said Sam Cliver, a Navy veteran who was in the service for 28 years and who fought in Vietnam. ``They're so used to having all this good, free stuff because these guys went out and fought. And some of them didn't come back.''

The poetry of Sammons' students reflects an understanding that they should be grateful for the sacrifices soldiers have made.

``Your life lay in the hands of war,'' wrote Zackary Fleming. ``You had your mind in horror. It hurt us when they took your life. The red color of blood on their knife. I write in remembrance of you. We are proud of what you do.''

But some of the kids conceded that the importance of Memorial Day hasn't really sunk in for them yet.

``We have a cookout,'' said Kyle O'Neil, 10, when asked how he celebrates the day.

``A lot of the importance of the day is dependent on their parents. If parents see it as important, then they'll live it that way,'' said Sammons.

Even kids whose parents are in the military struggled to articulate what Memorial Day means, although their own experiences with having a parent away for an extended period of time brought it home for them.

``If they're just at work, they'll be home at 4, but a two-month deployment, that's when you worry,'' said Chris Davis, 9, whose father is a Navy chaplain.

Most of the kids interviewed said that even if they had relatives who had fought in a war, they hadn't heard much about those experiences.

Sammons, whose own father didn't talk to him about his experiences in World War II until he was an adult, can understand why veterans might hold back from going into the details of their war experiences.

``It's not a pleasant thing to talk about. Maybe the parents are kind of sheltering their children. Memorial Day brings back the realization that people die in war,'' said Sammons.

Some of the kids, like Kyle, said they preferred to stay sheltered for a little longer. Others, like Garrett Windle, 9, said kids would be better off getting straight answers, the sooner the better.

``I do think they should tell us before we reach the older ages because when we turn 18 we might be drafted,'' said Garrett.

That's where Cliver stands on the subject.

``When they ask questions, they need to be told directly,'' he said.

Some of the veterans at the service in Virginia Beach Monday despaired of children ever understanding.

``Where are the kids?'' asked Tom Hise, who enlisted in the Navy when he was 15, six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. ``They're at the mall.''

But Sammons said that, as hard as it is to help children understand about why they should care about Memorial Day, it is possible - and it's not only important for the children.

``I saw that it was meaningful to them (veterans) that they see that someone cares,'' said Sammons. ``And children do care, if they're given the opportunity to care.'' KEYWORDS: MEMORIAL DAY

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