Keep the "Memorial" in Memorial Day

COMMENTARY - Keep the "Memorial" in Memorial Day
By Karen Farthing
Originally published 05:18 PM, Monday May. 25, 2009

PADUCAH, KY - As we relax and enjoy this long weekend, I ask that we remember why, on Monday, we are given liberty to spend the day away from work. Memorial Day is to be a day of remembrance, a day to honor those who have given their last full measure of devotion to God, country, and family. Many refuse to actively participate - either because they've forgotten the meaning of the day, or because they feel that to celebrate Memorial Day is to glorify and celebrate war.

Memorial Day is not a celebration of war - it is a day of both solemnity and joy. It's the day that we pay homage to our fallen, celebrating honor, loyalty, integrity, and sacrifice. It's the day that we express joy that we are alive, and are the recipients of prosperity and liberty - largess purchased by the blood of our heroes. It's a day of renewal, where we pledge again to support the families of those who died in battle.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, by General John Logan with his General Order Number 11. It was first celebrated on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The following is General Logan's address. The eloquence contained therein speaks to my heart, and captures so well the meaning of remembrance.

HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
General Orders No.11, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 1868

The 30th day 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 church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

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. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

Department commanders will use efforts to make this order effective.

By order of

JOHN A. LOGAN, Commander-in-Chief

N.P. CHIPMAN, Adjutant General

Official: WM. T. COLLINS, A.A.G.

On Monday, while you're enjoying the holiday, please take some time to honor our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who died in service to their country. Fly the flag at half-mast until noon. Take a moment at 3:00 pm to recognize their sacrifice, if only in your thoughts. If you have time, visit a monument or place a flower on the grave of a soldier.

I'll end with these words from a poem by Moina Michael, penned in 1915:

"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."