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By Keeping The Past Alive, Memorial Day Can Help Us Save The Future
The Federalist ^ | MAY 30, 2022 | SCOTT POWELL

Posted on 05/30/2022 12:04:29 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Memorial Day takes on its deepest meaning when we connect it with our heritage and roots.

Memorial Day is a profound American holiday because it connects the present with so many different points of our past. It was originally known as Decoration Day, a day set aside to honor those who lost their lives in the Civil War—America’s most costly war, taking the lives of at least 620,000 men. Among American holidays, Memorial Day is unique also in that it originated from the vanquished, not the victor.

After the war was over, women from the South—Columbus, Mississippi and Richmond, Virginia—set out to decorate with flowers the gravesites of their fallen Confederate soldiers. But they became so moved in the process that they decided to equally decorate the gravesites of Union soldiers buried alongside their loved ones. That expression was profound, for it showed an amazing forgiveness toward even a merciless Union victor, like Gen. William Sherman, whose scorched-earth military campaigns had committed so many atrocities—ravaging the lives of non-combatants and unnecessarily destroying swaths across five southern states.

Although Abraham Lincoln could have blamed the South for starting the war by seceding from the United States and firing the first shots on Fort Sumter, he expressed no accusation nor bitterness toward the South and held that both sides were to blame for the Civil War. “With malice toward none, with charity for all…let us bind up the nation’s wounds,” said Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address.

Decoration Day would not become a national holiday for nearly a century, until after the two World Wars and the Korean War cost America another 559,000 lives. During the Vietnam War, Decoration Day was renamed Memorial Day to honor all servicemen who died in the line of duty in any war or...

(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: decorationday; memorialday

1 posted on 05/30/2022 12:04:29 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
From the penultimate paragraph:

While many of us now feel that the light from the City on a Hill has grown dim, our Constitution still stands, and we the people are still in charge. In the face of internal and external enemies seeking our demise, we cannot falter or retreat

2 posted on 05/30/2022 12:14:46 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

My Son had the privilege of helping to place a wreath at The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier.

He understands.


3 posted on 05/30/2022 12:36:47 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The only thing that can save the future is getting back to the Constitution.


4 posted on 05/30/2022 1:02:59 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin ( (Natural born citizens are born here of citizen parents)(Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: lightman

our Constitution still stands,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Does it, really?

We have had an ineligible Kenyan from Indonesia as President and we now have an ineligible Indo-Jamaican VP after a fraudulent election.


5 posted on 05/30/2022 1:06:08 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin ( (Natural born citizens are born here of citizen parents)(Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: blueunicorn6

I have an uncle who was an Air Force general and a cousin in the navy. Just like with the other members of our military, I’m eternally grateful for and will certainly never forget their sacrifices to our nation.


6 posted on 05/30/2022 1:21:26 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I remember.

I remember flying in on the Freedom Bird at zero dark thirty, being bussed to SFO, where there were flights to everywhere, all before 0700.

(Posted this on Twitter, it was "declined.")

7 posted on 05/30/2022 2:55:10 PM PDT by jonascord (First rule of the Dunning-Kruger Club is that you do not know you are in the Dunning-Kruger club.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

A childless nation has no future. What comes after us is the real question.


8 posted on 05/29/2023 9:22:00 AM PDT by Varda
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