Morning, y’all! Today’s newsletter is nice and short so we can get on with the holiday. Memorial Day is a difficult one, isn’t it? On one hand, we have the unofficial start to summer. On the other, a time to remember fallen service members. Each person has their own way of balancing these two energies. All I know is, if you know a military member who lost their life, you probably wish they could be there with you, on the lake or at the cookout. Raise a glass of something good in their honor, and enjoy the day on their behalf.
Let’s get to it.
FAMILY OF A FALLEN SOLDIER REUNITED WITH UNEXPECTED TREASURE
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
After Sgt. Kennedy L. Sanders was killed in a 2024 drone strike in Jordan, the U.S. Army sent her belongings back to her grieving parents in Waycross. One item that was never found was her phone. Shawn Sanders and Oneida Oliver-Sanders often wished they could have it to see selfies and pictures of their daughter, all the little parts of life people leave on their devices.
When they got a call from her phone number in 2025, they were stunned. Staff Sgt. Zachary Winthers, who was stationed at the same desert base as Sanders, had seen the phone in a lost-and-found box. He knew it belonged to someone. He knew it was important, and got permission to bring it home and charge it when he left Jordan.
The Sanderses were reunited with that precious piece of her daughter, but it was only one of several remarkable ways Kennedy’s memory lives on. A mural of her is displayed in her hometown of Waycross. A local school honors students who show good citizenship with an award in her name.
“It’s an overwhelming sense of honor and respect for our daughter and for our family,” Oliver-Sanders said. “People do look to us as the example for grieving parents.”
🇺🇸 You really should read the whole story, beautifully told by the AJC’s Joe Kovac Jr. It’s a meaningful example of how people live the message of Memorial Day.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
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MORE ABOUT MEMORIAL DAY
When it began: Memorial Day was first known as Decoration Day, and originally honored soldiers who died during the Civil War. The word “decoration” came from the tradition of decorating the graves of the fallen in remembrance. After World War I, the scope of the holiday was expanded.
How it’s different from Veterans Day: Don’t beat yourself up if you get the holidays confused.
- According to the VA, Memorial Day “is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.”
- Veterans Day, in November, is “the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military — in wartime or peacetime.”
🇺🇸 READ MORE: The difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day, and how each are observed
HOLIDAY WEEKEND HEADLINES
We’ll get back to the newsy stuff tomorrow, but if you must know what’s going on right now:
✂️ CARE USA, a humanitarian organization headquartered in Atlanta that was founded at the end of World War II, says it has laid off hundreds of employees across the nation and thousands abroad. It’s one of many humanitarian organizations faced with painful decisions because of the Trump administration’s massive cuts to federal foreign aid.
🚔 A Dalton police officer who pulled over and arrested college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal, who was later held for two weeks in an ICE detention center, has resigned.
🪖 A Georgia man faces difficult decisions after the Trump administration effectively banned transgender service members. U.S. Army Spc. Aven Thomas says his transition to living as a man makes him a better soldier. “When you feel at your best,” he said. “You are able to perform your best.”
ONE MORE THING
Last night my friends and I went, as we do every month or so, on a pho date to Nam Phuong on Buford Highway. It’s also one of the 63 restaurants spotlighted by AJC Food & Dining’s “Around the World in 63 Dishes” global dining guide. Let me know if you visit one!
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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