Memorial Day used to be Decoration Day – it was the day people gathered after church then went to the local cemetary to decorate the graves of the soldiers that died in battle during rhe Civil War – it went from being called Decoration Day to Memorial Day.
According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, “Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered, Veterans Day (Nov. 11) is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military — in wartime or peacetime.”
My church was formally founded in 1801, but was in operation even earlier. We have veterans from all our major wars, including the War for Independence buried there.
We also have a research committee that places and keeps the appropriate flags on their graves, or their memorial markers for those we can’t actually locate but have records they’re buried there: US, Union, Confederate and Revolutionary War flags are all there.
After services on Memorial Day and July 4th I always walk the cemetery and pay my respects, and nowadays add a prayer for divine intervention to help us, their progeny, somehow shake of the return of the tyranny they fought and died to overcome.
May God’s Grace bless America once again, even though we have strayed so far and don’t deserve it. The young children of today, and the coming generations of the innocent unborn, however, don’t deserve to grow up as slaves, and it is for their sake I pray.