Although I have never been able to serve, I did try to enlist as a young man. Having epilepsy seems to be an unfavorable thing to have if you want to serve your country. But the desire was there and the feeling that I've been less of an American bothers me everyday. I am proud of anyone who wears a uniform in support of this country and those that paid the supreme price should never be disrespected, they are to held up high and remembered everyday. I do not give a rat's ass on your feelings towards war or violence or your stand on why we shouldn't have been there in the first place. I had a Grandfather, who not long after coming to this country from Germany, signed up to fight in the American Revolution. He died a proud man who served in the Continental Army to gain freedom for a brand new country. He did what he felt he needed to do. Fast forward in history and there was another Hack....signing up for the Union to serve in the bloodiest war in our history. He lived thru the Civil War, while many of his friends did not. Am I proud? You bet your ass! My grandfather that helped raise me was a hero in World War 2 in a fight for global freedom, fighting the Japanese. It ended with my Dad. His eye problems made him unfit for duty, but he wasn't a protester, he supported his boyhood friends who would later die in an unpopular war. If you've seen Forrest Gump, this may look alot like lineage of Lt. Dan. Except that I lost no one in battle. That is Hack's history of Memorial Day. Let me tell you the real story.......
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
Traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over the years which is a crying shame. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day and this stings. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored and neglected, which translates into disrespected. 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.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."
The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.
But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."
Take notice that I didn't make mention of a certain "church" that loves to trample dead soldiers, they don't deserve my recognition. We need to really remember this day for what it is. I know that I will. Why don't you join me and my family as we celebrate. And feel free to comment this blog with a short story of your own.
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