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It has become the gateway to summer - a three-day weekend filled with picnics and barbeques, car races and parties.
Fewer and fewer think about, or even remember, what the last Monday in May is really for - to pay homage to our fellow citizens who paid the ultimate price for the freedom all Americans and much of the rest of the world enjoys today.
"It's a day to remember the veterans who paid a great price for this country - those who died, but also those who were wounded and those who came back with other problems," said Norm Hubler, a Vietnam-era Air Force veteran and member of Warsaw American Legion Post 49.
"It's also a time to remember the families of the veterans who paid such a high price and didn't come home," he added.
Many veterans find it hard to express their feelings as Memorial Day approaches. Both time and age have a way of blurring some of the images. But other memories are as indelible as the battle scars they carry from the conflicts in which they fought.
"I spent four years as a guard on merchant ships, and had three of them blown out from under me," said Ed Kinsey, a World War II veteran. "I spent more time in a lifeboat than a lot of men did at sea."
Kinsey added that too much time has passed for most people to appreciate the significance of the sacrifices many fallen veterans paid.
"I think most people forget what Memorial Day is all about," he said.
Don Creakbaum, a WWII veteran who fought in Europe, said he wishes more people would use the holiday weekend to remember those who lost their lives in combat. Those like his friend Tim Leinholtz.
Every Memorial Day, Creakbaum said, he thinks about his comrade-in-arms, who lost his life in an artillery barrage during the last-stand German offensive in the Ardennes Forest in 1944 - known as the Battle of the Bulge.
"Memorial Day should be to show respect for those boys, like Tim, who died," he said. "It shouldn't be looked at as a three-day weekend. It's a very solemn occasion.
"Having spent some time on the front line, I just look at it differently, I guess," he added.
As does Darlene Carlile, a Korean War-era veteran, and the first woman commander of Post 49.
"It's a day we honor our veterans who have paid the ultimate price," she said. "I guess times have changed. People now just see it as another day off.
"We go to the cemetery every year for the memorial service," she said. "It sure would be nice to see more people out there."
John Bumbaugh, a Korean War veteran, said that while the conflict can - and maybe should - be forgotten, those who served and are serving should be remembered on this weekend.
"I'd just like everyone to forget about Korea, but not about the people who are still over there," he said.
Memorial Day services in Warsaw are scheduled at 11 a.m. Monday in Oakwood Cemetery. In Pierceton, services are scheduled at 10 a.m at Pierceton School. In North Webster, services begin at 10 a.m. in Mock Cemetery. Leesburg's services will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a parade from the intersection of Pearl and Van Buren streets to the cemetery for services at 11 a.m. Milford will have a 10 a.m. parade to the cemetery, where services will immediately follow. In Syracuse, services will immediately follow the parade scheduled for 2 p.m.
