Memorial Day: A Day Off or a Day To Remember?

Memorial Day marks the informal start of summer, but it has a more solemn aspect, implied in the name itself. Memorial Day is a day when we remember the nation's war dead. Not to be confused with Veterans Day — which honors living veterans — Memorial Day remembers those who gave their life for their country. Since the Civil War, more than 1.1 million Americans have given the highest sacrifice to our country. More than 600,000 of those have died in the Civil War Alone. I would suggest that this war was not at all CIVIL!

How did this day begin?

There are many versions of how this day came into being. The location of the first observance of Memorial Day is in dispute. Some claim the custom of honoring war dead began in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Others claim the custom was originated by some Southern women who placed flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. According to one writer, the first Memorial Day service took place on May 30, 1866, on Belle Isle, a burial ground for Union soldiers in the St. James River, at Richmond, Virginia. The school superintendent and the mayor planned the program of hymns and speeches and had the burial ground decorated with flowers. In 1966, however, the U.S. government proclaimed that Waterloo, New York, was the birthplace of Memorial Day. On May 5, 1865, the people of Waterloo had honored soldiers who had died in the Civil War.

 In 1868, Memorial Day was observed for the first time officially in the United States, by General Order No. 11, issued by Gen. John A. Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.

 In 1959, Congress proclaimed that a day be set aside in recognition of those Americans who died in service to their country. Memorial Day was observed on May 30 until 1971, when Congress decreed that it be observed annually on the last Monday in May. This is probably when Memorial Day started to become a day off rather than a day to remember. Three-day weekends will do that.

 We need to bring Memorial Day back to being a Day for Remembering rather than a day off. Each one of us has a responsibility in doing this. We need to teach our children what today is for. Who we are to honor.

 It has been said that America can only be the land of the free as long as it is also the home of the brave!