Memorial Day makes the unofficial start of summer, bringing to mind images of picnics, barbecues, a long weekend at the beach or just a lazy day off.
But originally, the holiday was charged with deeper meaning--and with controversy. No one knows the true origin of the holiday, but here are a few worth mentioning.
The exact origins of Memorial Day are disputed with at least five towns claiming to have given birth to the holiday sometime near the end of the Civil War. According to one source, the first Memorial Day was in April 1865 when a group of former slaves gathered at a Confederate prison where more than 250 Unions soldiers had died. After digging up the soldiers' mass graves, they interred the bodies in individual graves, built a fence around them and erected a memorial arch.
In 1865, just after the close of the Civil War a local druggist in Waterloo, New York suggested placing flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers in his community.
The following year, another area resident, General John B. Murray led the small village in putting flags at half-mast and decorating the gravestones of soldiers buried in the town's three cemeteries.
"...Let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor...in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us...the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan."
HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
General Orders No.11, Washington, D.C.
General Orders No.11, Washington, D.C.
May 1868
by order of John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief
At the onset, Memorial Day--originally called Decoration Day "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" was so closely linked with the Union cause that many Southern states refused to celebrate it. They acquiesced only after World War I, when the holiday was expanded beyond honoring fallen Civil War soldiers to recognizing Americans who died fighting in all wars. Still, many Southern states still recognize Confederate Memorial Day as an official holiday, and many celebrate it on the June birthday of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, But Texas observes the holiday on Robert E. Lee's birthday, January 19th.
The long-cherished Memorial Day tradition of wearing red poppies got its start in 1915. While reading Ladies' Home Journal, an overseas war secretary named Moina Michael came across the famous World War I poem, "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. Moved by the poem, she vowed always to wear a silk poppy in honor of the American soldiers who have given up their lives for their country. She started selling them to friends and campaigned for the red flowers to become an official memorial emblem. The American Legion embraced the symbol in 1921 and the tradition spread to more 50 countries, including England, France and Australia.
With the National Holiday Act of 1971, Congress moved Memorial Day from May 30 to the last Monday in May. Critics complained guaranteeing the holiday is part of three-day weekend promotes relaxation instead of stressing the holiday's true meaning.
Since the 1950s, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division have placed American flags at each of the more than 260,ooo graves there. On the holiday itself, the President gives a speech and lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Whether you attend a parade or ceremony, visit a cemetery or memorial, wear a poppy or flag pin, or donate time at a veterans' facility, take a moment to say thanks to those men and women who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we enjoy today.
Happy Memorial Day
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