Stop and Remember on Memorial Day

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” – Mark Twain

“I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day.  I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it.  We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.” – Benjamin Harrison

Every year, the Wrongologist reminds everyone that Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day. Back then, it was our most solemn holiday. It was established by a military general order issued by Gen. John Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.

It was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The Civil War claimed more lives than any conflict in US history, requiring the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. This is from Gen. Logan’s order:

The 30th of May, 1868, is designated 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

By the end of the 1860s, Americans in towns and cities everywhere had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

Decoration Day became Memorial Day when Congress passed the National Holiday Act of 1971, which moved observing national holidays observed to Mondays, creating three-day weekends.

So, along with parades, picnics and three-day sales, and many thinking that we are celebrating the start of summer, let’s stop and remember the people who died in our wars. Let’s do that irrespective of whether we “believed” in a particular war. Here are a few Memorial Day cartoons.

Remember the real costs this weekend:

Uncle Sam wants U:


Let’s remember that all of the war dead were Americans:

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2 Comments

Terry McKenna

for me, making the holiday into a bland any monday instead of a specific day seemed to take a little of the wind out of the sales. but maybe mourning is something we just don’t do now.

Jomo

There is a difference between mourning and remembering. I mourn with those families who lost soldiers in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Each year, I try to remember the dead of all wars. I like the 3-day weekends. They don’t have to be just mindless consumption of hot dogs & beer.

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