Memorial Day began in this country after the Civil War as an effort toward reconciliation between the families of veterans in the North and the South. After the war, there was already a tradition in the North of decorating soldiers' graves, called "Decoration Day." But in 1868 an organization of Northern war veterans decreed it ought to be a national holiday. May 30 was carefully chosen as the date because it was not the anniversary of a specific battle, and therefore would be a neutral date for both sides.
But human beings hold on to their wounds, and reconciliation takes time, grace and mercy. So initially, as the holiday spread, it was an occasion for both sides to give angry speeches about the wartime atrocities inflicted by the other side, and the righteousness of their own.
However, as time went on, Memorial Day really did become a time to remember all veterans, a time to visit the graves of family and friends, and to remember their lives.
In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill moved three holidays off of their specific dates and onto Mondays, in order to create three-day weekends. Memorial Day came to be associated with the beginning of summer, as well as the Indianapolis 500, and sales at the malls.
Today, let us remember the spirit in which the day was conceived, as a way to bring together those who had once been bitter enemies. After the fighting is over, the loss and heartbreak are shared throughout the human family. God's mercy pours out over all God's children, with no respect for the borders of nation states.
Here in my city of Chicago, as NATO gathers amid displays of military force as well as protests, I pray for comfort for all those who have lost a loved one to the ravages of war. I pray that the peace of Christ, which passes all human understanding, will knit together this weary and war-torn world.
From the perspective of history, our national boundaries seem so fluid, changing throughout the years. From the perspective of eternity, those same national boundaries seem meaningless, since one day we will be reunited in the memory of the one who created us all.
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"Why was Not the president @ Arlington on this day?"
"why do Barry Hide on Memorial day?"
3 years of these quips and complains, moans and groans!
and why do we Not hear a single right wing commentator say
: Nice Job of being there Mr Obama, Nice Being the President,
we wanted you to be, even if it took you three years!
But No Not One right wing compliment! Not even a back handed one!
Mr Obama has visited Arlington every year, just not during the Hoopla!
He sents Joe Biden for all that, Jolting Joe does fine!
Did You hear what he said friday? that Our Vice-president!
And I am very Proud of Joe Biden!
First; If one has read General Order 11, one sees that the ceremonies held at Arlington Cemetery, in 1868 were about decorating the graves of the UNION VETERANS.
Second: May 30th was more likely used since it was the last Saturday of the month and was chosen as the best day to have the better attendance without conflict with work or church. .
Again referring to the General Order, Logan states the “Their Soldier Lives were a Reveille of Freedom to a Race in Chains, Their Death a Tattoo of Rebellious Tyranny in Arms. While reconciliation came, it wasn't so in 1868.
This was about the ”Heroic Dead Who Made Their Breasts a Barricade Between Our Country and It’s Foe.
Finally: Commander in Chief Logan hoped we would continue to observe this day “While a Survivor of the War Remains to Honor the Memory of His Departed Comrades”
Decoration Day, was an observance of the deeds and sacrifices of the Men who “Gave Their Lives That The Nation Might Live.
As a direct descendant of these “Boys in Blue”, I find no connection with Memorial Day and any border confusion one may seem to have. If one sees borders and “Meaningless and Fluid”, I believe that that person does great disservice to those who fought to protect them..
Jerry Sayre
Past Department Commander
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Logan was acting under the order of the President (let ya google to find out who he was), having NO authority over national cemeteries or anything else non-military, so could only act to order the troops and chains of command beneath him, to prepare to undertake the responsibility of providing more maintenance for military cemeteries.
Logan stated: " "It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades."
Note that it ws limited to the lifespan of any survivor, North or South, and not in perpetuity.
This has nothing to do with the National concept of Memorial Day. The Civil War was the only major war (post-Revolution) fought here and it was brother against brother so it evoked (and still does) more emotional commitment to preserving its history and status in the then-recovering states, both North and South.
Johnson wanted to denote Union graves at Arlington but that does not at all rise to the initiation of Memorial Day and it is not of any affect with regard to other sites.
One must learn to properly interpret history before gong online.
It was.... The soldiers that died, that were lucky ones, the million that have served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan are the ones that will live with the horrors of war forever.
Gods Bless everyone that has worn the uniform and did their duty with Honor, I salute everyone of you.
Gen. John Logan was NOT the founder of Memorial Day.Logan's proclamation was issued in 1868. The first observance of "Decoration Day", ..., took place in 1865 in Charleston S. C. and was done by freed slaves, three years prior to Logan's action.
On a Monday morning in the spring of 1865, thousands of former slaves marched onto the grounds of the old Washington Race Course, now Hampton Park, where wealthy Charleston .....had gathered ....., the track had been turned into a prison camp. Hundreds of Union soldiers died there.
For two weeks in April, former slaves had worked to bury the soldiers. ...now a proper funeral
at 9 a.m. as 2,800 black school children marched by their graves, softly singing “John Brown’s Body.
The exercise on May 1, the Charleston Daily Courier reported, began w/ the reading of a Psalm. The crowd sang a hymn, then prayed.
The children strew flowers on the graves as they walked past. After “John Brown’s Body,” they sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” “America” and “Rally Round the Flag.” By the end, the graves looked like a massive mound of rose petals.
former slaves were joined by several Union regiments, incl. the 104th and 35th “colored regiments,” as well as the famous 54th Massachusetts. .....sermons/prayers/picnic. It was May 1, 1865, but they called it Decoration Day.
On that day, former Charleston slaves started a tradition that would come to be known as Memorial Day.
For years, the ceremony was largely forgotten.
It had been mentioned in some history books, including Robert Rosen’s “Confederate Charleston,” but the story gained national attention when David W. Blight, a professor of American history at Yale, took interest. He discovered a mention of the first Decoration Day in the un-cataloged writings of a Union soldier at a Harvard University library.
A few years ago, the city of Charleston and the state approved plans for a historical marker in Hampton Park to honor the first Dedication Day. Blight has said the site is perhaps even worthy of National Park status.
Harlan Greene, director of archival and reference services at Avery, said the time is right; Charleston has begun to recognize its African-American history.
“We’re approaching a tipping point,” Greene said. “The irony of the story is that Charleston is the cradle of the Confederacy, but the memorial was for Union soldiers. It shows the richness of Charleston history.”
By: Kirkland Burke
I don't know if this is true or not, he claims it is...and it's an interesting story.
I know...Raining on a national picnic.
What good does it all do?
There are wars that are just, and sometimes we are forced to protect ourselves, but in recent wars, what necessity has there been to take the lives of so many youth? Like you said, things are no different today than they were yesterday, except that one more American youth's life may be gone.
God bless everyone in the world on this Memorial Day.