Sunday, May 27, 2007

Memorial Day: Past, Present and Future - Vol. 3 Issue 61

Memorial Day has its roots in the Civil War. Both sides in that conflict honored their dead with displays of flowers during and after that War ended in 1865. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order #11 and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states 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 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee. See, USMemorialDay.org.

Regardless of exactly where and when it began, the importance of Memorial Day has grown as the unity and power of American civilization has increased. As the wounds of the Civil War started to heal, along came WW1. It soon became clear that whatever wisdom their leaders lacked and regardless of the irrational geopolitical policies that resulted in more wars, the soldiers whose lives were taken from them in every American conflict deserve to be honored. If only there weren’t so many of them in every generation! We live and breathe in freedom because in every generation there are heroes who put their lives at risk. Their courage and generosity of spirit should always be honored. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all. Giving them one day a year is the least we can do.

Semper fidelis,

Savant