Posted on 05/27/2019 6:26:46 AM PDT by Liberty7732
Every Memorial Day there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of columns and articles written about the holiday, including many on the true meaning of Memorial Day.
Remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of America is the primary reason, of course. But the overarching understanding that every American should take from this day of burgers, beaches and relaxing is not burgers, beaches and relaxing.
It’s that the freedoms underpinning the ability to enjoy those things and so much more come with a price — and sometimes that price is the steepest one of all.
This understanding began with our Founders, who when declaring freedom from a distant tyrant in the Declaration of Independence, concluded with this solemn oath:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Many of them paid the final price in the loss of their lives to ensure freedoms for the next generation. And every generation since has needed to fight in some fashion to protect or expand those freedoms. From the Civil War to the World Wars to the Cold War, from the War of 1812 to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There were many other fronts in the battle for expanded freedoms, but today is about the wars, and men and women who died in them.
All of those who died in all of America’s wars have their place in the pantheon of defending freedoms. Not all conflicts were as clearly righteous as others, but all built towards the incredible freedoms we enjoy on this Memorial Day — freedoms that would not be available without the immense sacrifice in their lost lives.
These are inordinately young men whose lives were yet ahead of them, lives they never got to live so that others could.
I think of my Dad on this day. He survived World War II, although he was scarred for life from it. He was a P51 Mustang fighter pilot. He was shot down during the Battle of the Bulge and barely survived, but got back in another Mustang and went back at it.
After every flight, he returned to base in England and there was always the strong possibility that somebody he had breakfast with that morning did not return — and would never return. Sometimes a lot of them did not return. Making friends was risky. He was willing to give his life, as were the rest who climbed in their fighters and bombers day after day and flew into the deadly skies over Germany.
Those men died that others may be free. Europe is free today in large part due to their sacrifice. The evidence is in the graves of thousands of American soldiers in the fields of France, Belgium, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Many Asian countries, such as the Philippines and Indonesia are free of tyrannical occupiers to this day because of the sacrifice of American fighters. The evidence is in the graves of thousands of Americans in the Philippines.
And of course we have military cemeteries across our nation.
We honor those who fought and died in all of our wars. We remember their sacrifice. And we remember why they died. Because freedom is not free, it is only obtained and maintained at a price.
So very true. Loss of freedom is always just a step or two away, and many have died fighting for it. We cannot honor them nearly enough. We can grill burgers and hot-dogs today, go to parades, work on the yard we own, and most importantly spend time with those we love, only because of the sacrifices of those who came before us - AND who put it on the line around the world every day.
To all FReepers who were or are in the military, or who have lost loved ones in the defense of our nation and way of life, THANK YOU and God bless you.
There are many people who say to others on this day “Happy Memorial Day”...I’m fairly certain most of these haven’t served in the military or served in combat...I usually just smile and say “You too...”
To me, it’s not really a “happy” day...It’s a day for remembrance and reflection...A day I look back at friends and brothers-at-arms who didn’t make it home as I did...
It’s not really a sad day, but more of a calm peaceful day to me...
When I was growing up in the Yankee North, it was still "Decoration Day." That name derives from the the holiday's origin when WBTS widows would visit graves and place flowers upon them.
I have an old 60s era World Almanac which indicates which holidays were (or weren't) observed in the individual States. Decoration Day was not observed in the Southern States.
But now it is, sort of. So what do Southern Freepers have to say about this?
ML/NJ
I am 70 years old and it has been Memorial Day in my part of the south ever since I can remember....
Memorial Day started as an event to honor Union soldiers who had died during the American Civil War. It was inspired by the way people in the Southern states honored their dead. After World War I, it was extended to include all men and women who died in any war or military action.
“...It was inspired by the way people in the Southern states honored their dead...”
“...It was inspired by the way people in the Southern states honored their dead...”
From a post in FR nearly a week back, the story was presented that emancipated slaves from a rebel prison re-buried the Union soldiers dumped in a mass grave there. So 1800 black children led the parade of 10,000 Americans that first year. I didn’t hear that story in school in the Detroit suburbs.
407,000 is the number that died in WWII -
Just got out my copy of the 1965 World Almanac. It says that Memorial or Decoration Day was observed in all States except Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
ML/NJ
Per Wikipedia:
The United States National Park Service[40] and numerous scholars attribute the beginning of a Memorial Day practice in the South to the ladies of Columbus, Georgia.[41][42][43][44][45][46][47] On April 25, 1866, women in Columbus, Mississippi laid flowers on the graves of both the Union and Confederate dead in the city’s Friendship Cemetery, claiming to be the first “Decoration Day”.[48][49] The early southern Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the dead and tend to local cemeteries.[50]
Historians acknowledge the Ladies Memorial Association played a key role in these rituals of preservation of Confederate “memory”.[51] Various dates ranging from April 25 to mid-June were adopted in different Southern states. Across the South, associations were founded, many by women, to establish and care for permanent cemeteries for the Confederate dead, organize commemorative ceremonies, and sponsor appropriate monuments as a permanent way of remembering the Confederate dead. The most important of these was the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which grew from 17,000 members in 1900 to nearly 100,000 women by World War I. They were “strikingly successful at raising money to build Confederate monuments, lobbying legislatures and Congress for the reburial of Confederate dead, and working to shape the content of history textbooks.”[52]
In 1868, some southerners appended the label “Confederate” to what they originally called “Memorial Day” after northerners co-opted the holiday.[53] The tradition of observances were linked to the South, they served as the prototype for the national day of memory embraced by the nation in 1868.[40][54]
By 1890, there was a shift from the emphasis on honoring specific soldiers to a public commemoration of the Confederate south.[50] Changes in the ceremony’s hymns and speeches reflect an evolution of the ritual into a symbol of cultural renewal and conservatism in the South. By 1913, David Blight argues, the theme of American nationalism shared equal time with the Confederate.[55]
Next year, get a film copy of Vice President Pence’s speech. It was magnificent. Play it. And then give homage to the fallen.
Also Wikipedia:
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan issued a proclamation calling for “Decoration Day” to be observed annually and nationwide; he was commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of and for Union Civil War veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois.[9] With his proclamation, Logan adopted the Memorial Day practice that had begun in the Southern states three years earlier.[26][27][28][29][26][30][31]
Do I have to wait??? Is there a link to his speech???
I agree completely. But I can’t come up with anything that seems functional.
Calm Peaceful Memorial Day! sounds a bit awkward.
I’m personally (not a veteran) just grateful on Memorial Day. I actually have tried that, have a Grateful Memorial Day! But it felt preachy.
I don’t know. If you initiate the greeting, what do you say?
I usually don’t use the holiday in a greeting...If I did, it would be something like “Have a good holiday.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.