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The Cost of a Free Republic
Townhall.com ^ | May 21, 2015 | Jackie Gingrich Cushman

Posted on 05/21/2015 4:55:21 AM PDT by Kaslin

It's Memorial Day week. You can tell as you flip through the local paper; Memorial Day notices appear as sales headlines and attention grabbers. "Memorial Day Sale" and "Pre-Memorial Day Sale." Pretty soon, we'll see post-Memorial Day sale advertisements.

Sales and barbecue are the two things that many people think about when Memorial Day is mentioned. What else? Well, for many Americans, it's the weekend that the pool opens and summer begins.

But it means more than that.

Memorial Day began soon after the Civil War as Decoration Day. It was the day the graves of the fallen members of the military were decorated to honor their sacrifice to keep our country united. They gave the ultimate sacrifice.

John Logan, who had served as a congressman from Illinois prior to the Civil War and then volunteered as a Union soldier and been promoted during the war to general, sparked Decoration Day. He issued an order in 1868 to honor those who had died in the Civil War. At that time, he was serving as commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of Union veterans.

"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," stated the order. "We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance," it said, adding that their deaths were "the cost of a free and undivided republic."

It was a high cost indeed. The Civil War was the deadliest war for Americans -- with the loss of more than 600,000 American military members. That first year, approximately 5,000 people gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to decorate the graves with American flags. Since then, the custom has grown and spread.

Virginia's Arlington National Cemetery is today the graveyard for hundreds of thousands of United States service members. I've often walked through the cemetery, which is surrounded by thousands of small white gravestones, perfectly aligned, row after row. Their overwhelming numbers underscore the sacrifice others have made for us. Each gravestone marks not only the loss of a person who has died but also the loss to his or her family and friends. Miles of trails traverse the cemetery.

One of the most fitting tributes to the American military is one that was given before Memorial Day was recognized -- President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln delivered his address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in November 1863, while the Civil War was still raging. He was not the main speaker for the day but had been invited as an afterthought. His speech was so short (less than two minutes) that the photographer did not have time to get a picture of him delivering it.

The speech, one of my favorites, is engraved in the Lincoln Memorial, across the Potomac River from Arlington National Cemetery.

Its 278 words don't include "I" or "me," but they do take the audience from our start as a nation and the American Revolution to Lincoln's wishes for the future of our nation:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. ... It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Taking time to reflect on the importance of Memorial Day may prove difficult to do at home, the beach or the pool amid the sales and barbecues. But we should all pause and remember -- to honor those who have given their lives for our country and to dedicate ourselves to living in a way that ensures their sacrifices were not in vain.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: arlingtoncemetery; freedom; memorialday; war

1 posted on 05/21/2015 4:55:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
And We got some scum “lawyer” in Alabama desecrating Graves to mislead his son about the Confederacy.

And if the zer0 had done Gettysburg the transcript would look like this:

I,ME,ME,I,I,I,I,ME,ME,I,I...

Well Ya get the point.

2 posted on 05/21/2015 5:01:50 AM PDT by mabarker1 (congress, The Opposite of Progress.)
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To: mabarker1

Exactly, and btw Donald Trump was last night on the Kelly File and all you heard from him I, me, I am the best, etc. It was disgusting


3 posted on 05/21/2015 5:06:58 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Had to Bing the Kelly File, I stick to FR for News and the TV is Racing or Military/History/Food/Cartoons and the like.

Mama watches the Local Am “news” spew and I mumble in the background while passing by the TV bringing Her breakfast. I change the channel as soon as She leaves for work.

Even the Dogs thank Me;)


4 posted on 05/21/2015 5:12:08 AM PDT by mabarker1 (congress, The Opposite of Progress.)
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To: mabarker1

Bless Jackie’s heart...she is so untalented and so trying to trade on her daddy’s name.....the intellect must have skipped a generation.


5 posted on 05/21/2015 5:13:51 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: Kaslin
Memorial Day Speech ... from a President who truly loved his Country and its real heroes (unlike today)
6 posted on 05/21/2015 5:18:40 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: mabarker1
Here is the video.

Donald Trump: 'I want to make the country great again'

My point was that Trump is just as arrogant as that pos occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

BTW how do you think from where news are reported on FreeRepublic? From New sites, like Fox News. Otherwise they would be just rumors

7 posted on 05/21/2015 5:24:52 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Servant of the Cross

He sure did


8 posted on 05/21/2015 5:31:14 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Thanks

I agree- trump the chump, zer0 the chimp (sorry Chimps- not putting Y’All down)

I know, I prefer to not have to listen to the rambling on and the drug commercials. Besides FR has the witty commentary that TV will never have;)


9 posted on 05/21/2015 6:04:39 AM PDT by mabarker1 (congress, The Opposite of Progress.)
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To: C. Edmund Wright

LOL!


10 posted on 05/21/2015 6:05:31 AM PDT by mabarker1 (congress, The Opposite of Progress.)
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To: Kaslin

My fellow Americans,

I submit to you, three names. You might not have heard of them.

The first, is my late father, Kenneth Eugene Smith. Who was he?
Prior to WW2, he was a U.S. Army engineer, mapping out
what is now known as The ALCAN Highway. He also served
during WW2, as a merchant seaman on the oil route
to Murmansk. After the war, he served as an USAF Reserve called active,
and stayed active till 1966.

The second name, is my late great-uncle, Joseph P. Franklin.
He served in the infantry during WW1, and was decorated
for his actions during operations in Chateau-Thierry, France.

The last name is Andrew Chowka, Pvt., U.S.M.C., The Wall, 1969.
Andrew was on a patrol in South Vietnam, when a mine
was triggered by another on the patrol, killing them both.
Before that time, he was my neighbor and my best friend.

All three of these men put their lives on the line to keep America free.

What if, it is written, that the people of this land, meet these
and all the kindred others of years gone by, and are
asked, “How has gone the Union?”


11 posted on 05/21/2015 6:13:31 AM PDT by Terry L Smith
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