Word Celebrity Blog

Memorial Day 2011


Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead".


The History and Origin of Memorial Day in Waterloo, New York

The story of Memorial Day begins in the summer of 1865, when a prominent local druggist, Henry C. Welles, mentioned to some of his friends at a social gathering that while praising the living veterans of the Civil War it would be well to remember the patriotic dead by placing flowers on their graves. Nothing resulted from this suggestion until he advanced the idea again the following spring to General John B. Murray. Murray, a civil war hero and intensely patriotic, supported the idea wholeheartedly and marshaled veterans' support. Plans were developed for a more complete celebration by a local citizens' committee headed by Welles and Murray.

On May 5, 1866, the Village was decorated with flags at half mast, draped with evergreens and mourning black. Veterans, civic societies and residents, led by General Murray, marched to the strains of martial music to the three village cemeteries. There impressive ceremonies were held and soldiers' graves decorated. One year later, on May 5, 1867, the ceremonies were repeated. In 1868, Waterloo joined with other communities in holding their observance on May 30th, in accordance with General Logan's orders. It has been held annually ever since.

Waterloo held the first formal, village wide, annual observance of a day dedicated to honoring the war dead. On March 7, 1966, the State of New York recognized Waterloo by a proclamation signed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. This was followed by recognition from Congress of the United States when the House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 587 on May 17th and May 19th, 1966 respectively. This reads in part as follows: "Resolved that the Congress of the United States, in recognition of the patriotic tradition set in motion one hundred years ago in the Village of Waterloo, NY, does hereby officially recognize Waterloo, New York as the birthplace of Memorial Day..."

On May 26, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Waterloo, NY as the Birthplace of Memorial Day.

It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings. Many towns planned obsevances for the fallen. There were spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead. North and South had a general human need to honor our dead. Each person and group contributed to the evergrowing movement that was culminated when General Logan gave his official proclamation in 1868.



















Decoration Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, by General John A. Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. In his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic – the organization for Northern Civil War veterans – General Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" should be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year, when flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  The date of May 30, was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle.

The friendship between General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who helped bring attention to the event nationwide, was likely a factor in the holiday's growth.




















Fort Logan National Cemetery.


There were events in 183 cemeteries in 27 states in 1868, and 336 in 1869. The northern states quickly adopted the holiday; Michigan made "Decoration Day" an official state holiday in 1871 and by 1890 every northern state followed suit. The ceremonies were sponsored by the Women's Relief Corps, which had 100,000 members. By 1870, the remains of nearly 300,000 Union dead had been buried in 73 national cemeteries, located mostly in the South, near the battlefields.

Decoration Day was not about division. It was about reconciliation!  Decoration Day was about people coming together to honor those who gave their all for our nation and for us.





















The first state to officially recognize this holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 Decoration Day was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days. This was the case until after World War I (when the holidaywas changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

*****

The Unknown Loyal Dead

by Frederick Douglass

at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia,
on Decoration Day, May 30, 1871





















"Friends and Fellow Citizens:

    Tarry here for a moment. My words shall be few and simple. The solemn rites of this hour and place call for no lengthened speech. There is, in the very air of this resting-ground of the unknown dead a silent, subtle and all-pervading eloquence, far more touching, impressive, and thrilling than living lips have ever uttered. Into the measureless depths of every loyal soul it is now whispering lessons of all that is precious, priceless, holiest, and most enduring in human existence.

    Dark and sad will be the hour to this nation when it forgets to pay grateful homage to its greatest benefactors. The offering we bring to-day is due alike to the patriot soldiers dead and their noble comrades who still live; for, whether living or dead, whether in time or eternity, the loyal soldiers who imperiled all for country and freedom are one and inseparable.

    Those unknown heroes whose whitened bones have been piously gathered here, and whose green graves we now strew with sweet and beautiful flowers, choice emblems alike of pure hearts and brave spirits, reached, in their glorious career that last highest point of nobleness beyond which human power cannot go. They died for their country.

    No loftier tribute can be paid to the most illustrious of all the benefactors of mankind than we pay to these unrecognized soldiers when we write above their graves this shining epitaph.

    When the dark and vengeful spirit of slavery, always ambitious, preferring to rule in hell than to serve in heaven, fired the Southern heart and stirred all the malign elements of discord, when our great Republic, the hope of freedom and self-government throughout the world, had reached the point of supreme peril, when the Union of these states was torn and rent asunder at the center, and the armies of a gigantic rebellion came forth with broad blades and bloody hands to destroy the very foundations of American society, the unknown braves who flung themselves into the yawning chasm, where cannon roared and bullets whistled, fought and fell. They died for their country.

    We are sometimes asked, in the name of patriotism, to forget the merits of this fearful struggle, and to remember with equal admiration those who struck at the nation’s life and those who struck to save it, those who fought for slavery and those who fought for liberty and justice.

    I am no minister of malice. I would not strike the fallen. I would not repel the repentant; but may my “right hand forget her cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,” if I forget the difference between the parties to that terrible, protracted, and bloody conflict.

    If we ought to forget a war which has filled our land with widows and orphans; which has made stumps of men of the very flower of our youth; which has sent them on the journey of life armless, legless, maimed and mutilated; which has piled up a debt heavier than a mountain of gold, swept uncounted thousands of men into bloody graves and planted agony at a million hearthstones — I say, if this war is to be forgotten, I ask, in the name of all things sacred, what shall men remember?

    The essence and significance of our devotions here to-day are not to be found in the fact that the men whose remains fill these graves were brave in battle. If we met simply to show our sense of bravery, we should find enough on both sides to kindle admiration. In the raging storm of fire and blood, in the fierce torrent of shot and shell, of sword and bayonet, whether on foot or on horse, unflinching courage marked the rebel not less than the loyal soldier.

    But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause. We must never forget that victory to the rebellion meant death to the republic. We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation’s destroyers. If today we have a country not boiling in an agony of blood, like France, if now we have a united country, no longer cursed by the hell-black system of human bondage, if the American name is no longer a by-word and a hissing to a mocking earth, if the star-spangled banner floats only over free American citizens in every quarter of the land, and our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty, and civilization, we are indebted to the unselfish devotion of the noble army who rest in these honored graves all around us."

*****



















Memorial Day 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).

Several Southern states continue to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day:

    * Mississippi: Last Monday in April
    * Alabama: Fourth Monday in April
    * Georgia: April 26
    * North Carolina: May 10
    * South Carolina: May 10
    * Louisiana: June 3
    * Tennessee (Confederate Decoration Day): June 3
    * Texas (Confederate Heroes Day): January 19
    * Virginia: Last Monday in May























In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

"We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies."










She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms.Michael and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women.

























This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children's League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans.











In 1948 the United States Post Office honored Ms Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.





















Decoration Day -  Chicago, Illinois 1927.





















Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen heroes are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day.


While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.




















There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3rd United States Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day.


Some Scenes From A Memorial Day Parade in Washington DC


















Colonial Military March.







Marching Band in front of the Capitol







Canadian Military Marching Band in front of the Capitol








United States. Navy Seaman.












United States Navy Honor Guard.















Boy Scouts.
















Young Marines Flag March.















Veterans March Washington DC.


 More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.
















To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed in December 2000. This resolution asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."  This step in the right direction may help us return back to the solemn, and even sacred, spirit of Memorial Day
















Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 30 in 2011). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates men and women who died while in military service to the United States.  First enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the American Civil War, it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.



















Decoration Day 1899.

Girls cut huge amounts of flowers from their mother's and grandmothers garden, placing them in water buckets and then ferrying them to their family cemetery to place them on all of the grave sites.  The adults would weed and rake the grave sites while the children placed flowers and American flags.












Decoration Day, Murray, Idaho, 1908.


In the beginning of the 20th  century, the parades, family gatherings and decorating the graves of the Civil War dead.  Decoration Day Began as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the civil war.  By the early 20th century, Decoration Day and had become a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family gatherings, fireworks, drinking parties, and camping trips or trips to the beach.

Today. Memorial Day often marks the start of the Summer vacation season, with Labor Day marking ithe end of Summer.





















One of the longest-standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, an professional automobile  race
which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911. It runs on the Sunday preceding the Memorial Day holiday. 
















The Coca-Cola 600 stock car race has been held later the same day since 1961. The Memorial Tournament golf event has been held on or close to the Memorial Day weekend since 1976. The National Memorial Day Concert takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol the Sunday before Memorial Day. The concert is broadcast on PBS and NPR. Music is performed, and respect is paid to the men and women who died in war.


Flags at Half-Staff Until Noon
















On Memorial Day the flag is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day.

The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.

Sociologists often make the argument that America has a secular "civil religion" – one with no association with any religious denomination or viewpoint – that has incorporated Memorial Day as a sacred event. Our American tradition includes an obligation to honor the sacrifices made by our nation to earn our freedom. With the Civil War, a new theme of death, sacrifice and rebirth enters the civil religion. Decoration Day gave ritual expression to these themes, integrating the local community into a sense of nationalism.

The American civil religion in contrast to that of France was never anticlerical or militantly secular.  In contrast to that of Britain it was not tied to a specific denomination like the Church of England.  Instead the Americans borrowed selectively from different religious traditions in such a way that the average American saw no conflict between the two. This mobilized deep levels of personal motivation for the attainment of our national goals.




















Those who are paying tribute in one of the nation's cemeteries may have another reminder of the war dead through Theodore O'Hara's poem "Bivouac of the Dead."   According to the Veteran's Administration, the poem, can be found inscribed at some of the United States' oldest national cemeteries.

The poem had originally been meant to memorialize Confederate soldiers who died in the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican War,  which had launched Colonel Theodore O'Hara's military career,  but would later also be used to remember those fallen in the Civil War in which O'Hara served with the Confederate Army.

Perhaps the poem's most memorable line is:
"On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread
That Glory guards, with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead."









Here are some appropriate scholarly quotations for contemplation this Memorial Day -

"We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them". - Francis A. Walker

"They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation." - Henry Ward Beecher.

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself," - Joseph Campbell.

"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree," - Thomas Campbell.
"For love of country they accepted death..." - James A. Garfield

"The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem." - Aaron Kilbourn

"They fell, but o'er their glorious grave
Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save." ~ Francis Marion Crawford

"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:
Their courage nerves a thousand living men." - Minot J. Savage

"But the freedom that they fought for,
and the country grand they wrought for,
Is their monument to-day, and for aye." - Thomas Dunn English

"Green sods are all their monuments; and yet it tells
A nobler history than pillared piles,
Or the eternal pyramids." - James Gates Percival

“Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow




"Go to sleep, peaceful sleep,
May the soldier or sailor, God keep.
On the land or the deep,
Safe in sleep." - Taps






 After her son died while fighting in Afghanistan, an American mother loudly complained that the media would spend days at a time covering the death of a rock star, and no or very little coverage of  the deaths of the Americans who were serving in other countries.  The following is a copy of a letter that she received from
American servicemen about her son.  I have used "your son" to replace his name wherever it appeared in the original.

"We are Georgia Air National Guardsmen deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. We support the front-line troops by flying them food, water, fuel, ammunition and just about anything they need to fight. On occasion we have the privilege to begin the final journey home for our fallen troops. Below are the details to the best of our memory about what happened after your son's death.

We landed using night-vision goggles. Because of the blackout conditions, it seemed as if it was the darkest part of the night. As we turned off the runway to position our plane, we saw what appeared to be hundreds of soldiers from your son's company standing in formation in the darkness. Once we were parked, members of his unit asked us to shut down our engines. This is not normal operating procedure for that location. We are to keep the aircraft's power on in case of maintenance or concerns about the hostile environment. The plane has an extremely loud self-contained power unit. Again, we were asked whether there was any way to turn that off for the ceremony that was going to take place. We readily complied after one of our crew members was able to find a power cart nearby. Another aircraft that landed after us was asked to do the same. We were able to shut down and keep lighting in the back of the aircraft, which was the only light in the surrounding area. We configured the back of the plane to receive "your son" and hurried off to stand in the formation as he was carried aboard.

"your son's" whole company had marched to the site with their colors flying prior to our arrival. His platoon lined both sides of our aircraft's ramp while the rest were standing behind them. As the ambulance approached, the formation was called to attention. As Brian passed the formation, members shouted "Present arms" and everyone saluted. The salute was held until he was placed inside the aircraft and then the senior commanders, the sergeant major and the chaplain spoke a few words.

Afterward, we prepared to take off and head back to our base. His death was so sudden that there was no time to complete the paperwork needed to transfer him. We were only given his name, Lt. "Your Son".  With that we accepted the transfer. Members of "your son's" unit approached us and thanked us for coming to get him and helping with the ceremony. They explained what happened and how much his loss was felt. Everyone we talked to spoke well of him -- his character, his accomplishments and how well they liked him. Before closing up the back of the aircraft, one of "your son's" men, with tears running down his face, said, "That's my platoon leader, please take care of him."

We taxied back on the runway, and, as we began rolling for takeoff, I looked to my right. "your son's" platoon had not moved from where they were standing in the darkness. As we rolled past, his men saluted him one more time; their way to honor him one last time as best they could. We will never forget this.

We completed the short flight back to Bagram Air Base. After landing, we began to gather our things. As they carried "your son" to the waiting vehicle, the people in the area, unaware of our mission, stopped what they were doing and snapped to attention. Those of us on the aircraft did the same. Four soldiers who had flown back with us lined the ramp once again and saluted as he passed by. We went back to post-flight duties only after he was driven out of sight.

Later that day, there was another ceremony. It was Bagram's way to pay tribute. Senior leadership and other personnel from all branches lined the path that Brian was to take to be placed on the airplane flying him out of Afghanistan. A detail of soldiers, with their weapons, lined either side of the ramp just as his platoon did hours before. A band played as he was carried past the formation and onto the waiting aircraft. Again, men and women stood at attention and saluted as "your son" passed by. Another service was performed after he was placed on the aircraft.

For one brief moment, the war stopped to honor "your son". This is the case for all of the fallen in Afghanistan. It is our way of recognizing the sacrifice and loss of our brothers and sisters in arms. Though there may not have been any media coverage, "your son's" death did not go unnoticed. You are not alone with your grief. We mourn "your son's" loss and celebrate his life with you. "your son" is a true hero, and he will not be forgotten by those who served with him."

We hope knowing the events that happened after "your son's" death can provide you some comfort."















More than 4,000 coffins have come back from Iraq. They were largely unphotographed.

"The only thing that is harder than being a soldier... is loving one."




















At Arlington National Cemetery, Memorial Day is celebrated  with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave.  It is also customary for the President or Vice-president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the military dead and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  There are about 5,000 people who attend the ceremony each Year.


























On a news broadcast yesterday, CBS announced that tha suicide rate for our veterans is more than double than that of the rest of Americans. We need to HELP those who have paid so dearly for the freedoms that we enjoy.

For me, the words of Thomas William Parsons are quite appropriate this day: "On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation!"