Memorial Day

While Veterans' Day in November is to honor all those who served their nation in war, Memorial Day is primarily to honor those who died in military service. This all-American holiday has its roots in the practice of women of decorating the graves of their loved ones who had died in the Civil War, and was originally also called Decoration Day. Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30 after 1868; since 1971 it is celebrated on the last Monday in May, though a few states have kept to the May 30 date.

Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued the 1868 proclamation declaring the first Decoration Day. He credited his wife, Mary Logan, with the suggestion for the commemoration. But the idea had its roots in the decoration of the graves of Civil War dead by women, going back at least to 1864.

On April 25, 1866, in Columbus, Mississippi, a women's association decorated the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers. In a nation trying to find a way to move on after a war that split the country, states, communities and even families, this gesture was welcomed as a way to lay the past to rest while honoring those who had fought on either side.

The first formal observance seems to have been on May 5, 1866, in Waterloo, New York -- President Lyndon Johnson recognized this as the "Birthplace of Memorial Day."

On May 30, 1870, General Logan gave an address in honor of the new commemorative holiday. In it he said: "This Memorial Day, on which we decorate their graves with the tokens of love and affection, is no idle ceremony with us, to pass away an hour; but it brings back to our minds in all their vividness the fearful conflicts of that terrible war in which they fell as victims.... Let us, then, all unite in the solemn feelings of the hour, and tender with our flowers the warmest sympathies of our souls! Let us revive our patriotism and love of country by this act, and strengthen our loyalty by the example of the noble dead around us...."

Sadly now it seems that every passing year, Memorial Day is less of a day of gratitude and poignant remembrance for our dead heroes and more of a three day holiday weekend kicking off the unofficial beginning of summer.