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PilcheskyDeceit True Freedom of Speech -> True Freedom of Speech ... Pilchesky denies Freedom of Speech -> Memorial Day May 28, 2007 -- Remembering The Meaning of Memorial Day!
Post Info TOPIC: Memorial Day May 28, 2007 -- Remembering The Meaning of Memorial Day!
LusOnlyVoice


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Memorial Day May 28, 2007 -- Remembering The Meaning of Memorial Day!
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Remembering the meaning of Memorial Day

Michael M. Bates
May 24, 2005


What does Memorial Day stand for? A day off? The start of summer? Parades and picnics? The opening of public swimming pools? You can finally! start wearing white shoes again?

If public opinion surveys are accurate, most Americans don't know much about Memorial Day's purpose or history. That's a pity because it removes an important bond with those brave men, and women, who have given their lives in our Nation's service.

Decorating the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers took place in several states during that catastrophic conflict. Shortly after the war, General John A. Logan, who headed an organization of Union veterans called the Grand Army of the Republic,, issued a general order designating a day:

". . . for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land."

During the first observance of what was then termed Decoration Day, the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers in Arlington were adorned with flowers as the thousands of participants said prayers and sang hymns.

Southern states weren't quick to embrace Decoration Day. Perhaps the people there couldn't cotton to an observance at least partially established by Union veterans.

Certainly General Logan's citing of "the late rebellion" had to have been a problem. Many Southerners didn't see the confrontation as a rebellion.

They viewed it, as some still do, as the war of Northern aggression or the war for Southern independence or maybe the war between equal and sovereign states or something like that. If they, rather than the Yankees, had prevailed and written the history of the struggle, maybe that's how we'd characterize it today.

So several Southern states set aside their own days to honor the Confederate dead. Confederate Decoration Day, for example, is still celebrated each June 3rd in Tennessee.

After World War I, the national Decoration Day became Memorial Day. The commemoration was expanded to include those who died in all U.S. wars.

This made the observance more acceptable in the South. Most states, in accordance with federal law, officially celebrate Memorial Day on the last Monday in May.

Three-day weekends are, in theory at least, OK, but I have to think that they erode a holiday's significance. In 1968, Congress debated the wisdom of moving several public holidays to Monday.

Writer Bill Kaufmann in The American Enterprise Online quotes a Tennessee congressman at the time as saying, "If we do this, 10 years from now our schoolchildren will not know what February 22 means. They will not know or care when George Washington was born. They will know that in the middle of February they will have a three-day weekend for some reason. This will come."

It has. And similarly Memorial Day, like other celebrations uprooted from their fixed dates, has lost much of its import for many of us fortunate enough to live in this blessed land.

That's not the only reason, of course. Lots of folks prefer to keep suffering and death out of their thoughts as much as possible. It's more fun concentrating on the start of summer or picnics or something else.

More than a million American fighting men and women have given, as Lincoln termed it at Gettysburg, the last full measure of devotion. Their valor and sacrifice made possible our freedoms, our values, our very existence.

Memorial Day should be a time of solemn reflection on some of the most sacred of human ideals: Faith, family, duty, commitment, heroism and honor. We are so profoundly indebted to all those soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who have given their lives defending us.

A few years ago Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act. It asked Americans to pause for one minute at 3:00 p.m. local time and think about those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

It may seem like a small gesture, but it's a way to, however briefly, keep faith with those heroes and maintain a tradition worth keeping.

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Agamemnon


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RE: Memorial Day May 28, 2007 -- Remembering The Meaning of Memorial Day!
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In grade school I had to memorize Lincoln's Gettysburg address, and to this very day I still remember most of it. I can think of few speeches that do a better job of speaking to the reasons why we honor those that made the ultimate sacrifice.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

- Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863

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IHavehadenoughofhaters


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RE: Memorial Day May 28, 2007 -- Remembering The Meaning of Memorial Day!
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Amen my friend,... Amen. Nicely done.

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LusOnlyVoice


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Thank you for posting Ag ...

That is perfect for this thread!

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LusOnlyVoice


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RE: Memorial Day May 28, 2007 -- Remembering The Meaning of Memorial Day!
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Just to let you all know that On May 27th there is a special that will be on PBS ... check out the website and then judge for yourself if you want to see this PBS special ... I personally will not miss it ... remember its not about the first picnic of summer ... it's about remembering ...

National Memorial Day Concert | PBS

A Brief History of Memorial Day

Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers.


During the first national celebration, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there. This event was inspired by local observances of the day that had taken place in several towns throughout America in the three years since the Civil War. By the late 1800s, many more cities and communities had begun to observe Memorial Day, and after World War I, it became a occasion for honoring those who had died in all America's wars.


Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery each year with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Traditionally, the President or Vice President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. About 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually.


In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday of May. Several southern states, however, have an additional, separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas; April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 in Louisiana and Tennessee.



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The best and most memorable Memorial Day celebration was held at the Fairview Memorial Cemetary near Moscow. Hundreds of six-foot flags line the roadways throughout the cemetary. If a breeze happens to catch the flags, it is one of the most impressive and breathtaking sights I have ever seen.

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LusOnlyVoice


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Girl it was the most impressive thing ... however sadly Fairview is putting an end to that practice ... My father's flag used to fly proudly at Fairview and well when it became tattered through years of weather ... I tried to replace it and they told me that they are no longer accepting flags and that soon they will be phasing out this service ... it will be sadly missed. It was the main reason that my father wanted to be burried at Fairview.

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Art Gordon


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Sad to hear they're discontinuing that practice. I agree, it was a wonderful tribute. I used to ride by there each year just to take it all in.

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Paul


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My folks are buried at Fairview. We stopped going to the memorial Day service because the speaker (a pastor from somewhere) was absolutely awful. Ruined an otherwise nice ceremony. But yes, it is always a beautiful site for Memorial Day.

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