Honoring Their Service, Remembering Their Sacrifice: A Memorial Day Reflection
On Memorial Day, we pause to remember the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. It’s a day rooted in remembrance and in connection, between generations and between those who served and those who now carry their stories forward.
At Gilchrist, that connection is felt deeply through our veteran volunteers, many of whom continue to serve long after their military careers have ended. Through our Veteran Program, they bring comfort, recognition, and dignity to patients at the end of life, often drawing from their own experiences of service, loss, and healing.
For two of those volunteers, Art Grau and Ed Nolley, Memorial Day isn’t just a date on the calendar. It is personal.
Art Grau: Healing Through Service
Service: U.S. Army Security Agency (1965–1969)
For Art Grau, Memorial Day is deeply intertwined with his own journey, one marked by service, loss, and, ultimately, healing. As a Vietnam veteran, Art spent decades carrying the invisible weight of war. “I struggled with fifty years of trying to hide the pain, guilt, anger, and shame of serving in combat,” he shares. “I lost several good friends in the process.”
When he returned home, like many Vietnam veterans, he was met with a lack of understanding. He kept his military service largely to himself, building a life, raising a family, and trying to move forward. That began to change in 2018, when his wife encouraged him—insisted, really—that he attend Gilchrist’s first Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day celebration.
He didn’t want to go. “Why would I open up that cesspool of demons?” he remembers thinking. But he went—and everything changed. “Hearing ‘Welcome home and thank you for your service’ changed my life,” Art says. “It set me on a path toward healing I never thought possible.” Soon after, he became involved in Gilchrist’s Veterans program, where he now participates in Salute to Service ceremonies for hospice patients.
One experience, in particular, stands out. Art was called to honor a 100-year-old World War II Army nurse. When he arrived, the room was filled with family. The patient was alert, smiling, and fully present. He led the ceremony—prayers, readings, and a formal salute. When she returned his salute, it was crisp and strong. At the end, she grabbed his hand, pulled him close, and asked with a grin, “What are you doing tonight?” The room burst into laughter. “I was the thankful one,” Art says. “To meet and honor such a glorious lady and her beautiful family.” She passed away later that night. “That beautiful lady gave me a memory lasting forever.”
Ed Nolley: Remembering Those Who Never Came Home
Service: U.S. Army and Maryland Army National Guard (1969–2001)
Ed Nolley has been a Gilchrist volunteer for more than a decade. In addition to serving on our Veteran Program team, he’s an end-of-life doula and chair of the Ambassador Team, continuing a lifetime of service in both big and small ways.
He recalls one Memorial Day ceremony from years ago that has stayed with him ever since. About 30 years ago, Ed attended a ceremony in a small local cemetery. The day was bright and clear. WWII veterans gathered together—many of them from the 29th Division, who had landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day in 1944. They greeted one another with hugs, sharing memories of battle and the friends they had lost.
Nearby, volunteers handed out red poppies—symbols of remembrance inspired by “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae. Following tributes to fallen comrades and the playing of Taps, the veterans lingered, speaking with younger service members from more recent wars. Though their service spanned generations, they shared a common bond: each had experienced the loss of a fellow soldier.
“There was not a dry eye among them,” Ed recalls. Over the years, he has attended many Memorial Day ceremonies, each one carrying the same quiet weight of remembrance and pride. Today, through his volunteer work at Gilchrist, he helps ensure that those who served are honored not only in memory but in the present moment.
A Shared Mission of Remembrance
Memorial Day reminds us of those who never made it home, but it also calls us to care for those who did. At Gilchrist, volunteers like Ed and Art carry that mission forward. Through bedside visits, quiet conversations, and Salute to Service ceremonies, they ensure every veteran’s story is seen, heard, and honored. Their service didn’t end when they took off the uniform. It continues in compassion, in remembrance, and in showing up. This Memorial Day, we remember the fallen. And we honor those who continue to serve in their memory.
