Take time to remember the fallen

As you peruse through social media, you will see someone asking students on college campuses about holidays like Memorial Day. The interviewer will typically question students about the significance of Memorial Day.

During the interview, many on camera will confuse it with Veterans Day, while others believe Memorial Day is just about honoring any individual who has passed.

Still, others have a vague understanding of Memorial Day, some even suggest that we get rid of the holiday altogether because it somehow furthers the United States’ Imperialistic agenda.

To be fair, if you asked many adults the same question, there would be some confusion too.

For many, it’s just one of the three-day weekends we get in a year to fire up the RV or boat. For those who have lost a loved one because of their service in the military, however, it is so much more.

Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day, is a federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May in the United States.

It honors and mourns the loss of U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

The purpose of the day is to visit cemeteries and remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service for their country.

The first national public proclamation of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868, by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the American Civil War.

However, the practice of decorating graves for both the North and South happened most likely before the proclamation.

According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Cemetery Division, “In the waning years of the Civil War (1861–1865) and immediately afterward, communities in the North and South, Black and White, decorated soldiers’ graves with floral honors on springtime “decoration days.” The practice of strewing flowers on graves has been documented from Classical Roman times to Western Europe in the nineteenth century.”

The article goes on to say that “In subsequent decades competition flourished to claim when and where the first such gathering occurred — in one way or another. Recent scholarship, however, points to the ladies of Columbus, GA, who in April 1866 lobbied for a clearly defined Memorial Day on which to place flowers on the graves of Civil War dead.”

Logan’s wife admitted that was the case, “Mrs. John Logan, a force in her husband’s successful career, also took credit.

In her autobiography, Mary S. Cunningham Logan presented the idea of placing flowers on soldiers’ graves to her husband after returning from a Confederate cemetery in Virginia.

Then recounted that General Logan felt it was “not too late for the Union men of the nation to follow the example of the people of the South in perpetuating the memory of their friends who had died for the cause which they thought just.”

General Logan’s “adoption of the Southern custom was transparent to nearly everyone living in America in 1868,” but as the author of G.O. 11, he was truly responsible for making it a national responsibility.”

Regardless of its origin, the practice of commemorating fallen soldiers’ graves with flowers lives on, while adding new traditions and involvement.

“The duties of the Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC), the GAR auxiliary organization chartered in 1883, eventually included collecting flowers to make wreaths and bouquets, and decorating graves of the unknowns. The WRC sought to reaffirm Logan’s patriotic Memorial Day message by issuing castiron tablets with a bas-relief portrait of Logan above the text of his G.O. 11.”

“In the 1920s and 1930s, the organization donated these to states for placement in prominent locations — state houses, courthouses, and schools. In a fiftieth anniversary publication, WRC reported that by 1933 its chapters had already placed thirty-five “General Logan Bronze Tablets” across the country.”

“The U.S. Army placed its own version of the Menorthwest morial Day Act tablets at most of the national cemeteries it developed between the world wars in urban areas, including at Baltimore, MD, and Long Island, NY. These were among twenty- eight tablets that Levering Brothers Inc. produced in York County, PA, in 1939.”

“The federal government continued to recognize Memorial Day through legislative actions. “The Congressional joint resolution approved May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period during each such day when the people of the United States might unite in such supplication.”

The day became official in 1966 through a congressional resolution where it was officially recognized “by a century of Memorial Day events held on May 30 in Waterloo, NY, officially proclaimed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Thus the federal government declared this location as the “birthplace” of Memorial Day.

Shortly after that, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, legislation enacted in 1968 — effective in 1971 — designated Memorial Day a national holiday and moved it from May 30 to the last Monday in May.”

More recently, “in December 2000, the National Moment of Remembrance Act (PL 106-579) established the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance.

The commission’s message to U.S. citizenry is to give “back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging Memorial Day activities. The commission also endorsed a National Moment of Remembrance at 3 pm local time each Memorial Day, a minute of silence for those who have died in service to the nation.”

Locally this Memorial Day, flags were placed around the Downtown Atlanta area by the J.E. Manning American Legion Post 258, in cooperation with local businesses, churches and individuals.

In Linden, the Linden Lions Club also placed flags around downtown.

At the War Memorial in downtown Atlanta, the American Legion also hosted a Memorial Day Observance on May 27.

Throughout the county, flags were flown, and cemeteries were visited.

Understanding the background of the holiday may give some perspective to others who have benefitted from the sacrifice of military servicemen but have never understood its cost. That’s why the idea of a “Happy Memorial Day” can be offensive to some who have lost someone.

In an interview with a TV station in Philadelphia, the daughter of a lost serviceman was asked about her thoughts on the term, “Happy Memorial Day”. Amelia Greene said, “One of the most hurtful things to hear or see when you’ve lost a parent is ‘Happy Memorial Day.’ This is something that I’ve really struggled with since losing my dad.”

Her brother, Cpt. Matthew Greene, who followed in his father’s footsteps (U.S. Army Major General Harold Greene), gave a little different perspective.

Though he admits that he has mixed feelings on the idea, believes most people have good intentions.

He just hopes that while people are enjoying their weekend, they will think of the sacrifice it took for them to enjoy it.

“I think the best way I explain it to people when they wish me a ‘Happy Memorial Day,’ is that in between beers and hot dogs, I hope they take a moment to reflect on why Memorial Day exists,” he told TODAY.

“People certainly deserve to have a good day on Memorial Day, but my point to them is — what’s the point of Memorial Day if there is no memory of why we are taking the day to reflect?”