{"id":78052,"date":"2026-05-19T10:41:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78052"},"modified":"2026-05-19T10:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:41:21","slug":"shaffer-memorial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/shaffer-memorial-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering on Memorial Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">For Memorial Day, NAU\u00a0alumnus\u00a0<strong>Joseph Shaffer III<\/strong>, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, shared his thoughts. Shaffer was director of both the University Honors Program and Arizona Honors Academy at NAU,\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0taught\u00a0history as well. Shaffer co-authored \u201cUNSUNG: Quiet Voices of the U.S. Navy\u2019s EOD Warriors and Their Families\u201d with professor emerita Paula Greene.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Memorial Day events in the Flagstaff area are below.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_78054\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-78054\" style=\"width: 175px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-78054\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Joseph-Shaffer.png\" alt=\"Joseph Shaffer III head shot\" width=\"175\" height=\"231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2026\/05\/Joseph-Shaffer.png 285w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2026\/05\/Joseph-Shaffer-227x300.png 227w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-78054\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Joseph Shaffer III<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThose who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.\u201d\u00a0Franklin Delano Roosevelt\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">After the American Civil War, people in various places\u00a0throughout\u00a0the United States\u202fsought\u00a0to commemorate the war dead.\u00a0Originally known as Decoration Day, in 1967 Congress\u00a0officially renamed the last Monday in May as\u00a0Memorial Day.\u00a0It is a day to honor American military personnel who have died while serving in the military.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Despite mattress sales, low-interest new car deals and backyard cookouts to celebrate the unofficial\u00a0start\u00a0of summer, for veterans of U.S.\u00a0military service and the families of those who died in battle\u00a0in\u00a0our 250-year history, Memorial Day is still a solemn reminder of the cost of the freedoms and privileges we still enjoy.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Celebrate the day, but\u00a0as you do so,\u00a0take a moment to reflect on those who gave their lives\u00a0for\u00a0this nation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Memorial Day events:\u00a0May 25\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">9 a.m. at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, 201 W. University Drive: 20- to 30-minute ceremony honoring military personnel who have been killed<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">11\u00a0a.m. at\u00a0Citizens Cemetery,\u00a01300 S.\u00a0San Francisco St.:\u00a045-\u00a0to\u00a060-minute ceremony with guest speakers<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">1\u00a0p.m. at\u202fArizona Veterans\u2019 Memorial Cemetery,\u00a014317 Veterans Drive,\u00a0Bellemont:\u00a045-\u00a0to\u00a060-minute ceremony with guest speakers<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/shaffer-memorial-day\/\">For Memorial Day, NAU\u00a0alumnus\u00a0Joseph Shaffer III, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, shared his thoughts. Shaffer was director of both the University Honors Program and Arizona Honors Academy at NAU,\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0taught\u00a0history as well. Shaffer co-authored \u201cUNSUNG: Quiet Voices of the U.S. Navy\u2019s EOD Warriors and Their Families\u201d with professor emerita Paula Greene.\u00a0 Memorial Day&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":78053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views-from-nau"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}