On Monday we will celebrate one of our country’s numerous Federal holidays. For many it is eagerly awaited only because it will offer us yet another three-day respite.
In today’s “connected” yet “disconnected” society, I suspect a large number of Americans would not be able to explain what Memorial Day is supposed to be about; when it was originated and why. As Americans, Memorial Day should be one of our most important holidays, ranking right up there with July 4th. Why we have allowed it to lose it relevance and reverence says a lot about our changing values as a nation.
Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember and honor those who have died while serving our nation in the military, was observed Federally for the first time in 1868. It began with the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of veterans of the Union Army, replicating on a nationwide scale what Southern women in several cities had been observing for years as a local Spring ceremony of remembrance for the Civil War dead of both armies by placing flowers on their graves. The Grand Army of the Republic asked its members to do the same on May 30, 1868, wherever fallen comrades lay interred.
General James A. Garfield, who would later become one of our martyred Presidents, spoke at this first Memorial Day observance on the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. The cemetery had been established only four years earlier; its graves were those of recent dead, the casualties of our terrible Civil War. Here is part of what he said that day:
We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country, they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and virtue.
Once Memorial Day became an official holiday, it was initially always observed on May 30th. However, over the years, pressure from commercial and labor interests who wanted to assure the American people of a three-day-weekend, succeeded in having Memorial Day ordained to be the last Monday in May. This was done not to enhance the honor and memory of those for whom the holiday was dedicated, but rather for the convenience and enjoyment of those who celebrate it. Unfortunately, this commercialization and convenience also served to diminish the true meaning of the holiday and us as a people as well.
Originally, Memorial Day was more popularly known as Decoration Day because it was observed by decorating the graves of our fallen soldiers with flowers or flags. That tradition of leaving a symbol of our remembrance is still a strong one; but it has been diluted by the draw of Memorial Day Sale shoppers, beer, and backyard bar-b-ques.
Celebration and leisure activities are wonderful and needed in our stressful society so I encourage everyone to enjoy this upcoming weekend. God knows, after this past year of Covid imprisonment we sure an use a day of celebration. However, I also encourage you to spend just a few minutes in meditation, prayer and memory of those who served in our military and gave their “last full measure of devotion” so that this weekend, and every weekend and holiday, we remain free to celebrate.
The words of General John A. Logan, the Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his first call for the observance of Memorial Day in 1868 are as eloquent and meaningful today as they were then, perhaps even more so. He said:
Let no ravages of time testify to coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided Republic.
This Memorial Day we can show no greater honor for those this holiday is dedicated to than to keep alive that which they gave their lives to preserve; love of country, duty, honor and defense of the right as it is given to us by God to see the right.
Have an AWE-full Weekend!
William “Bill” Bacque