Memorial Day Cold Cases

There’s a television series called Cold Case, which is a drama revolving around a police division that specializes in investigating cold cases--crimes or accidents that have not been solved. In most episodes, it is many years after a death that the detectives of the homicide division of the police department are prompted to reinvestigate the old case gone cold following, a revelation of new evidence, discovery of the victim's physical remains, or a witness who has decided to come forward. The detectives then give the cold case a new look and begin researching the victim and interviewing their friends, acquaintances, and family. In spite of the fact that Cold Case is not one of my favorite programs, I am always moved by the thought that after a case has been sitting cold for many years in a storeroom and most people have long forgotten about the deceased person that someone cares enough to open their file. Usually at the end of each episode, having solved the case in less than one hour, the detectives mark the case as "closed," putting the evidence box back on the shelf.

Memorial Day is a bit like reopening the evidence boxes of both veterans and nonveterans that have been stored away in our nation’s cemeteries. This Memorial Day my wife, her mother, and myself made plans to visit the gravesites of my wife’s grandparents, her father, my grandparents, and my parents. Our trip involved visiting four different cemeteries. We began at the National Cemetery in Catonsville, from there we traveled to Woodlawn, then to Randallstown, and we finally ended up in Laurel. The stories shared at my wife’s grandparents’ graves in the National Cemetery were familiar. However, in spite of being married for 30 years and having passed the cemetery thousands of time, my wife and I never knew that this was where her grandparents were buried, and I never knew that her grandfather was a veteran of WWI.

As mentioned earlier, our final stop was my father-in-law's grave in Laurel, Maryland. This year actually marks the 20th anniversary of his death. Interestingly, my wife’s stepfather is also buried in the same cemetery and in the same section, however this was actually unplanned. My wife's stepfather is buried next to his first wife and her mom has a plot next to her first husband. By the time we arrived it was raining too hard so we remained in the car for more than an hour waiting for the rain to subside. (Since we were in the 4WD SUV, you know what I was tempted to do.) Once the rain slowed up I left the car with half an umbrella and a gravesite map in search of the gravesites. Unfortunately, the map was rather useless and I spent another hour walking through foot-deep puddles looking for my father-in-law and step-father-in-law’s grave. I was determined not to leave without finding at least one of the graves; although I thought several times about giving up and just putting the fake flowers on some stranger’s grave. However, what kept me persevering was my belief that my father-in-law’s life meant more than the inconvenience of rain and hours of searching. It amazes me the amount of money family members spend on elaborate funerals and expensive granite gravestones, yet rarely visit their loved one's resting place. My parents never started a Memorial Day celebration without first visiting my grandparents’ graves.

After the rain stopped and my pants were soaked to my knees, I finally found my father-in-law’s grave. And I am glad to have spent the entire holiday visiting graves and reopening the files of our relatives. Nevertheless, as I walked from grave to grave reading the headstones, I sensed the thousands of stories filed away in those graves. Many of the files, if not most, will one day be forgotten; they will be cold files. No one will visit, no one will search for the grave, no one will remember them. However, for those of us who are believers, we can take comfort in knowing that even when our descendents have forgotten us and have stopped searching for our graves and our stories have gone cold, we won’t be forgotten forever. Jesus Christ has a map with each of our names or graves clearly marked. And unlike me, He won’t have any trouble finding us. The Bible says,

We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words. [1]

[1] 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (NLT)