Comrades in Arms
May 2007
The national holiday looked upon as the true beginning of summer
was not always part of a three-day weekend, nor was it called
Memorial Day. The sentiment of remembering those who fought and
died in the service of their country has always been the primary
focus, even if it appears to take a back seat to the red, white
and blue, community carnivals and events.
We called
May 30th "Decoration Day,” a name never officially
adopted but used by the public and in the press until the turn
of the last century. I recall most vividly the thirties and forties,
when this special day, always the 30th of May, meant a fife and
drum corps from a local school would parade through the streets
while their music
reverberated through the alleys between brick houses.
We decorated
with all the red white and blue we could find, weaving it through
bicycle spokes, and followed the decree to march along with the
aging veterans still among us who fought in previous wars, and
we marched with the somewhat younger veterans of foreign wars
returned from fighting World Wars I and II.
Our
families raised flags at dawn, children waved small ones and if
one touched the ground we would gasp in horror that we might seem
disrespectful. We held our heads down, right hand to our hearts,
little silk poppies in the button-holes of our jackets or pinned
to our shirts, feeling throat-catching love and appreciation for
our brave fighting forces past and present. Later in the day we
would follow our decorating with picnics and joy and always acknowledging
how blessed we are to be living in the "land of the free
and the home of the brave," with due thanks to those who
made our freedom possible.
It
was on May 5, 1868 that John A. Logan, national commander of the
Grand Army of the Republic in General Orders No. 11, Washington,
D.C. proclaimed: "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 …and
whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet
church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony
is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange
such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances
may permit."
First observed on May 30, 1868, the graves of Union and Confederate
soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery, were decorated
with flowers to honor them for their sacrifice on our behalf.
And so it continued there, but not everywhere. New York was the
first state to make it an official day of remembrance - a holiday
- but not until 1873.
It was recognized
by all northern states and finally the southern states - who had
honored their dead on different days until the end of World War
I. Today it's celebrated on the last Monday in May, making the
federal holiday a three-day weekend. Although it's a nationwide
holiday now, the southern states continue to honor their confederate
war dead on an additional day of tribute: April 26th here in Georgia.
The edict
issued on that day in May 1868 included deeply solemn, reverent
and poetic words addressed to a recovering nation:
"We
are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose
among other things, 'of preserving and strengthening those kind
and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers,
sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.'
What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly
the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade
between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the
reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the
tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves
with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste
of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a
fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton
foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds.
Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors
and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no
ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations
that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided
republic."
Any visit
to any town in America this coming Monday will give ample evidence
that we have not "forgotten as a people the cost of a free
and undivided republic."
At Arlington
National Cemetery, approximately 275,000 flags will be placed
at each grave on Memorial Day. It's only a small but very meaningful
tribute to all who lie beneath the white crosses. We are a very
grateful nation; and I'm sure they knew they could count on that
going in.
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