May 31, 2010

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.   My heart goes out to the families of soldiers that have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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 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 3d U.S. 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. 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.

History

8 comments:

  1. Well said. People just think of BBQs on Memorial Day and lose sight of the true meaning of the holiday.

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  2. Irony, especially considering the present use of the military, drips from the lack of understanding behind the deeper meaning of Memorial Day.

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  3. I was born on the real Memorial Day, so I grew up with the traditions. It's sad to see what it's been reduced to.

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  5. I have always been conflicted about this day. War should always been avoided because the sad part is that family becomes casualty.

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  6. On a walk this evening, I found myself wishing a neighbor, "Happy Memorial Day!"

    And immediately wishing I could call that back.

    If I could spend this day where I would like, it would be at the Civil War cemetery at Carnton Plantation near Franklin, TN.

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  7. Thanks for this history Ken, it's meaningful. I enjoy BBQs and a beer like the next human, but everyone remembers in their own way and that's fine. My war was Viet Nam my parents were in WW2, and I swear, I mean it I SWEAR there is NO GOOD WAR, people talk about "Well I don't mind WW2 it was the good war against fascism" or a few others. ALL WARS END UP THE SAME; spilled blood. I enjoyed reading about protocol I remember seeing as a kid in the 1950s, thanks Ken.

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  8. War is a profit-driven concept these days -- maybe it always has been.

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