Memorial Day, an American holiday observed on the last Monday of May, honors men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, at least, it marks the beginning of summer.
Early Observances of Memorial Day The Civil War claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history, requiring the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.
It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. Waterloo—which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
Decoration Day On May 5, 1862, 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. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Many Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I.
Evolution of Memorial Day Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars.
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But 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. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Memorial Day Traditions Cities and towns across the United States host Memorial Day parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ organizations. Some of the largest parades take place in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. Americans also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries and memorials. On a less somber note, many people throw parties and barbecues on the holiday, perhaps because it unofficially marks the beginning of summer.
As an adult, Memorial Day has taken on a meaning that it did not when I was much younger.
Today, I look at our military and realize everything I have enjoyed, living in this great country, The United States of America, is because someone in the military sacrificed for me.
Memorial Day is a day to honor those who are responsible for giving all Americans the freedoms we enjoy today and everyday of our lives, living in the USA.
I want to thank all who have served and now serve as well as those who gave their lives for me...again, "thank you" for your sacrifice and may God Bless you and your family.
I have so many friends and family members who have served, that thinking of our veterans in one form or another is an every day occurance to me. In one way or another, every day is Memorial Day to me.
But this week-end is a day that is a very special time to commemorate those who have fallen in the service of our country.
I try especially hard to bring that message to others who may not understand the gravity of it all.
Today, I will be going to a cook-out at my daughters house with my four grandchildren. I will talk to them and help them understand the gravity and solemn occasion that is Memorial Day. What it means and the great sacrifice so many have given from the inception of our nation through today.
I feel the greatest accomplishment we can give to our fallen, is to pass the message on to future generations just how important our freedom is and that they should honor and respect those who gave their life so we can have this great nation to live in.
In our society today, so much has been lost and so much strife exists between our citizens and their politics, that during this time above all others, we need to put that aside and join together as one in remembrance and honor of all of our fallen warriors who have given the ultimate price.
If I can do nothing else, making my grandchildren understand the full impact of what this week-end reprsents, and carrying on the honor that these fallen so richly deserve, I will feel blessed to be able to do this.
To help insure that going forward, our nation never forgets the true meaning of Memorial day and that even after I'm gone from this earth, that my family carries on this time honored tradition in a manner befitting of the occasion.
JMHO
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
On Monday I'll do what I have done for the last 15 or so years. I'll stop at the grocery and pick up some flowers and then head to the national cemetery.
I'll just walk the headstones until I just get the feeling I am at the right one. I look for a person who is in their teens or twenties telling me there was a good chance they died in combat, and a grave that looks like it hasn't had any personal attention in a while. Last year it was a Korean War vet.
I'll lay the flowers and have a 15 minute, soulful conversation with the person.
I then go home and get on the computer and try to find any information I can on the person. Just a way to pay tribute.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
Quote: On Monday I'll do what I have done for the last 15 or so years. I'll stop at the grocery and pick up some flowers and then head to the national cemetery.
I'll just walk the headstones until I just get the feeling I am at the right one. I look for a person who is in their teens or twenties telling me there was a good chance they died in combat, and a grave that looks like it hasn't had any personal attention in a while. Last year it was a Korean War vet.
I'll lay the flowers and have a 15 minute, soulful conversation with the person.
I then go home and get on the computer and try to find any information I can on the person. Just a way to pay tribute.
That's awesome, Peen
You're an alright guy, I don't care what anyone else here says about you
Quote: On Monday I'll do what I have done for the last 15 or so years. I'll stop at the grocery and pick up some flowers and then head to the national cemetery.
I'll just walk the headstones until I just get the feeling I am at the right one. I look for a person who is in their teens or twenties telling me there was a good chance they died in combat, and a grave that looks like it hasn't had any personal attention in a while. Last year it was a Korean War vet.
I'll lay the flowers and have a 15 minute, soulful conversation with the person.
I then go home and get on the computer and try to find any information I can on the person. Just a way to pay tribute.
That's awesome. What a great tribute to a fallen hero.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
So many service members have died for this county in wars, we should never forget them.
I recently lost my very best friend, he was an honorable veteran that passed away just three weeks ago! I have a feeling he is at peace for the first time in his life.
Thanks so much to everyone that served in the military........so many people have died fighting for this country........it is so honorable, but yet so sad.
Maybe the only reason that....War Pigs is my favorite song!
Quote: On Monday I'll do what I have done for the last 15 or so years. I'll stop at the grocery and pick up some flowers and then head to the national cemetery.
I'll just walk the headstones until I just get the feeling I am at the right one. I look for a person who is in their teens or twenties telling me there was a good chance they died in combat, and a grave that looks like it hasn't had any personal attention in a while. Last year it was a Korean War vet.
I'll lay the flowers and have a 15 minute, soulful conversation with the person.
I then go home and get on the computer and try to find any information I can on the person. Just a way to pay tribute.
That is just awesome.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. - John Muir
I went out on Sunday this year because I go to the Chattanooga Market every Sunday and the National Cemetery isn't far off my travel path.
I finally settled on SP4 Leonard Clark, born 6-2-43, died 11-9-67.
Naturally I couldn't directly post the images. Here are a couple of shots. One showing the general area of the cemetery I started walking, and then a close up of Leonard Clarks final resting place.
As of now I don't have much to share other than he made it home after his service. I've tried to find onits online and have had little success. I may have to make a trip down to the main library and search the archives if I want to find more.
My online search showed Leonard as having been issued a death certificate in Hamilton Co.(this county), he was married and listed as non-white. That's all I have at this point.
When they are KIA you can find them through military sites which give you where they were killed, so you can pin down actual battles.
It's a shame. The guy isn't much older than I. He goes off to war, comes home, and dies a year or two later. Go figure. It now makes me curious to find out how he died. Was it some lingering problem from the war? Was it a auto accident? Did he just hang with the wrong crowd?
What happened to his wife? Did he have kids? What happened to them?
The fact is this kid had 24 years on this earth, and now he has been in the ground the last 45 years. I find that sad. It makes me think about all that has happened to me the last 45 years, things this kid never had the chance to experience.
I salute you, Leonard Clark.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
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