The Power of Story on Memorial Day

How do we honor our fallen after the guns have gone silent?

When our politicians seem so eager to turn the page on the Afghan Forever War, and the nation is divided, how do we remember the sacrifices made by our warriors? How do we let our Gold Star Families know that we love them?

The answer is storytelling. 

In his dramatized memoir on the Vietnam War, Tim O'Brien says, "Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story"

Societies have been using storytelling to honor their fallen warriors since the very first days of combat. Humans are wired for story. Stories heal the brain, calm the soul, and bridge across gaps of trust and understanding in a way that no other form of communication can replicate. 

Yet our nation is one of the few that has moved away from storytelling, especially at Memorial Day. Instead, we lower our heads, shuffle our feet, and mutter, "Thank you for your service", day after day, month after month, year after year. But as a nation, do we really honor our fallen? I don't think so, and the majority of the Gold Star Family Members I’ve interviewed agree.

I wrote the play, Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret, because I felt like the memories of my buddies who fell in combat were fading away in this fast-paced world of mass distraction. I desperately wanted to immortalize the lives of my fallen friends and the heavy burdens carried by their families.

People told me it was too heavy. “It's too soon. Don't let Gold Star Families see this. It will be too hard on them.” 

In a sold-out theatre on Memorial Day, 2019, we performed Last Out in Washington D.C. Many of the family members in the audience lost loved ones in the Pentagon attack on 9/11. There is a scene in the play based on my real-life Ranger Buddy, Cliff Patterson, losing his life in the Pentagon. It's raw, and it really hits the emotional cords. "Finally," Gold Star Families said in the talk back, "Someone is telling our story." 

I remember the first time a Gold Star Mom came to our show in Brandon, Mississippi. She lost her son, Jason, in Iraq. I brought her on stage before the show to meet the cast, and she gave us a real lesson in storytelling. "I'm so tired of people walking around on eggshells with me," she told us, "I want to tell my son's story. I want people to know he lived. That's what ya'll are doing with this story. You're giving me new memories." 

Every town we went to, Chicago, Fayetteville, Santa Barbara, Buffalo, Albuquerque... Gold Star Family members sat in the front row as we told the story of our fallen. In the talk backs, Gold Star Family Members and veterans shared the stories of their fallen loved ones with the civilians in the audience who had never known this kind of loss from war. The shared perspective that came from this type of storytelling was unlike anything I've ever seen.

Another Gold Star Mom, Holly, has become so connected to storytelling that she's now a Story Coach in our nonprofit, The Heroes Journey. She helps warriors and military family members learn to heal themselves through storytelling while continuing to tell the story of her son, Danny, who died in Afghanistan. It's powerful stuff and it's what we are wired to do in tough times.

But we need more of it. We need your involvement.

Memorial Day is a hard day for anyone who lost a loved one in combat, but it's especially tough for our Gold Star Families. How will we honor them this Memorial Day? "Say their names. Tell their stories,” One Gold Star Mom told me, "Help us keep their memory alive by talking about not just how they died, but how they lived." 

Tell stories.

This Memorial Day we have a chance to do more than just say, "thank you for your service." This day is about honoring our fallen. What better way to do that than to share their stories? 

This Memorial Day, The Heroes Journey is launching Last Out on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV, and VUDU. We encourage you to help honor our fallen by welcoming Gold Stars, veterans, and civilians into your home to watch the film. Host a talk back. Let the veterans and the Gold Stars share the stories of their buddies and loved ones who didn’t make it back. It's such a beautiful gift of healing.

100% of the proceeds will go back into our story workshops, so amazing story coaches, like Holly, can continue to bring the healing and redemptive power of story to our Gold Star Families and warriors. 

This Memorial Day let's do it differently. Let's tell the stories of those who fell, and let's ask to hear the stories of those who were left behind. 

Join us in watching and sharing Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret in honor of the fallen in your community. Let us know who you are honoring so we can celebrate their life and sacrifice along with you. 

God Bless all of you, and may we never forget those who gave all and the families who love them.

De Oppresso Liber,

Scott Mann, Creator of Last Out