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Memorial Day

With malice towards none... With charity for all; With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan-- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations. ~ Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865

Memorial Day is not just a National Holiday. It is a tradition. Families get together for picnics and cookouts. It is the unofficial start of the summer. Sports abound including baseball, softball and the Indianapolis 500 race. But behind the festivities is a more solemn purpose: to honor those who gave their lives in combat in service to their country, the United States of America. How did it get started? The Greeks put flowers and garlands on the graves of their community heroes some 2,500 years ago. The tradition of communities honoring the war dead in this country became especially strong after the Civil War. Communities in both the South and the North remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice with ceremonies and special observances. The effort to make Memorial Day a National Holiday began with an order on May 5, 1868 by General Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (a Union Army veterans organization) to make May 30 of each year a day to decorate the war dead graves with flowers and to comfort their widows and orphans. Congress followed that order with act to recognize every community celebration in the Congressional Record. By 1900 almost every state celebrated the holiday, which was designated as "Decoration Day," and focused on the Civil War dead. After World War I, the focus was changed to the dead from all the nation's wars. The name was changed to "Memorial Day" after World War II and made an official national holiday in 1967. Congress changed the celebration day to the last Monday in May beginning in 1971. Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act in 2000 to "reclaim Memorial Day as the sacred and noble event that the day is intended to be."

How many dead are we honoring and who were they?

Source:U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA                                     They were men and women, sons and daughters, as well as grandsons, granddaughters, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, friends and neighbors. Many of them were just entering adulthood (late teens/early twenties). How can we properly observe Memorial Day (according to the Memorial Day Foundation)?   How To Observe Memorial Day "We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, i s but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or the coming generations, that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided Republic. If other eyes grow dull, and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remains to us." ---General John Logan, General Order No. 11, May 5, 1868 The "Memorial" in Memorial Day has been ignored by too many of us who are beneficiaries of those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and liberty. Often we do not observe the day as it should be, a day where we actively remember those Americans including our ancestors, family members, loved ones neighbors and friends who have paid the price for the blessings of liberty. You can change this by doing the following: By wearing your Memorial Day Button from the first of May until Memorial Day. Go to the following link to order one http://www.memorialdayfoundation.org/product.asp?id=89772 By visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes. By flying the U.S. Flag at half-staff until noon. Memorial Day is a day of "National Mourning." By attending religious services of your choice. By visiting memorials. By participating in a "National Moment of Remembrance" at 3:00 PM local time, to pause and think upon the meaning of the day and for taps to be played where possible. By renewing a pledge to aid the widows, and orphans of our fallen dead, and to aid the disabled veterans. Also, please consider adding your voice in support of the efforts to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th  (instead of "the last Monday in May").Go to www.usmemorialday.org/act.html to add your voice. This would help greatly to return the solemn meaning back to the day, and help return minds and hearts to think upon the ultimate sacrifices made by those in service to our country. Just one special day out of the year to honor our loved ones, our ancestors, our friends who died defending our freedom and liberty. Several Southern states continue to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day: Mississippi: Last Monday in April Alabama: Fourth Monday in April Georgia: April 26 North Carolina: May 10 South Carolina: May 10 Louisiana: June 3 Tennessee (Confederate Decoration Day): June 3 Texas (Confederate Heroes Day): January 19 Virginia: Last Monday in May   Why do we still celebrate Memorial Day (according to Oliver Wendell Holmes) So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly. To fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might. So must you do to carry anything else to an end worth reaching. More than that, you must be willing to commit yourself to a course, perhaps a long and hard one, without being able to foresee exactly where you will come out. All that is required of you is that you should go some whither as hard as ever you can. The rest belongs to fate. One may fall-at the beginning of the charge or at the top of the earthworks; but in no other way can he reach the rewards of victory.

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