On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “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,” he proclaimed.
Many don’t know much about the history of Memorial day, and I think that’s sad. Why sad? Because the memorial day we observe, came after the bloodiest, deadliest war we’ve ever waged. And it was against ourselves. Yes folks, it was born as Decoration day, after the Civil war.
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “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,” he proclaimed.
And so it began. By 1890, all the northern states had declared Decoration day as a State Holiday. But Southern states were still bitter about the true cause of the war ( It was NOT slavery) and didn’t follow along . They had different days that they honored their fallen.
As WWI erupted in Europe, the US was content to sit on the sidelines, and not get involved. But while sending merchant ships to supply Britain, German ships and Uboats began sinking them. There are those that believe some of the sinkings were an “inside job” to draw the US into the conflict. For many months, the US held out.
But then on April 6, 1917, the U.S. joined its allies--Britain, France, and Russia--to fight in World War I. Under the command of Major General John J. Pershing, and more than 2 million U.S. soldiers went and fought on battlefields in France.
As the casualties of that war started coming home in boxes, friends and families would of course decorate their graves, just as they did with the Civil war dead. As the years went by, the name Decoration day, gave way to Memorial day. That seemed fitting as the word “Memorial” means “something, especially a structure, established to remind people of a person or event.”
Well, our “event” was all the brave souls killed in these mindless wars. Remembering them and memorializing the events that caused their demise, should strike at the hearts of each and every one of us. Why? To keep reminded of the horrors of war and why every effort should be made to avoid it at all costs.
Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date General Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day, for decades. One by one the Southern states began observing the holiday since it now wasn’t just a civil war memorial, it was those who died in WWI. Then of course those that lost their lives in WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnamese war, and right on through our adventures in the Middle East, etc. Every fallen soldier of any war, has someone somewhere, that wants to remember them.
In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971 and that same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Another little known tidbit about Memorial day, is that often you’ll see people wearing little red Poppy pins to remember the fallen soldiers. That actually came to be, after a Brigade surgeon in WWI, wrote a poem. He was tending to wounded soldiers after one of the bloodiest battles of the war, after the Germans, outnumbered released chlorine gas. 90K allies died, 40K Germans.
He was in this huge field of dead and dying soldiers and happened to realize the entire field was covered in bright red poppies. He wrestled with the brutality of man, and the beauty of those flowers and wrote a poem about the scene.
His poem was read aloud at countless memorial services, in remembrance of that war. A woman in the US read of it, and decided to create a “poppy pin” as a sort of remembrance flag. Her idea was to make silk poppies and sell them as a way to help support returning veterans.
It didn’t catch on until a local branch of the American Legion adopted it as their symbol. In 1920 the National American Legion adopted it as their emblem. Over the years the concept spread and even today, you see people handing out silk poppies after donating to such things as the Salvation army.
For a lot of people and especially the younger one’s Memorial day is nothing more than BBQ’s, hotdogs and burgers, parties and the unofficial start of summer. I would be willing to bet that 75% of them don’t have a clue what the Holiday is meant for, nor why it came about. I find that horrifically sad.
I have no issue with folks wanting to enjoy themselves, get a day off work, spend some time grilling burgers and drinking some beer. None at all. But in the midst of all that, I hope you all take some time to honor those who didn’t come back. To say thank you in your own special way. I was lucky. My dad and Uncles made it back. I have friends that weren’t so lucky. Their loved one’s didn’t make it back.
Say a prayer for them, and another for all of us. Pray that somehow humans stop killing each other. It’s all so damn senseless.