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Chelle, our resident Fact
of the Day guru, posted this today on the message board and asked that I
post it for all to see.
The Real Origin of
Memorial Day
Memorial Day, originally
called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for
those who have died in our nation's service.
There are many stories as to its actual beginnings,
with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to
being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also
evidence that organized women's groups in the South
were decorating graves before the end of the Civil
War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our
Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the
dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are
Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead".
While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the
birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon
Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove
conclusively the origins of the day. It is more
likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of
those towns and every planned or spontaneous
gathering of people to honor the war dead in the
1860's tapped into the general human need to honor
our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing
movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his
official proclamation in 1868.
It is not important who was the very first, what is
important is that Memorial Day was established.
Memorial Day is not about division. It is about
reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor
those who gave their all.
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868
by General John Logan, national commander of the
Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No.
11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when
flowers were placed on the graves of Union and
Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
The first state to officially recognize the holiday
was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by
all of the northern states.
The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring
their dead on separate days until after World War I
(when the holiday changed from honoring just those
who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring
Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now
celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday
in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday
Act of 1971 to ensure a three day weekend for
Federal holidays), though several southern states
have an additional separate day for honoring the
Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26
in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May
10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis'
birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields,"
Moina Michael replied with her own poem:
We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on
Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the
nation during war. She was the first to wear one,
and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with
the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later
a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United
States and learned of this new custom started by
Ms.Michael and when she returned to France, made
artificial red poppies to raise money for war
orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition
spread to other countries. In 1921, the
Franco-American Children's League sold poppies
nationally to benefit war orphans of France and
Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam
Guerin approached the VFW for help.
Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became
the first veterans' organization to nationally sell
poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program
was selling artificial poppies made by disabled
veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms
Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy
movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with
her likeness on it.
Traditional observance of Memorial day has
diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays
have forgotten the meaning and traditions of
Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the
fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most
people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette
for the day. While there are towns and cities that
still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held
a parade in decades. Some people think the day is
for honoring any and all dead, and not just those
fallen in service to our country.
There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late
50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200
soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small
American flags at each of the more than 260,000
gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They
then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to
ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the
Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing
flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks
National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice
that continues to this day. More recently, beginning
in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for
Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place
a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites
of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and
Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's
Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004,
Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade
in over 60 years.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true
meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of
Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which
asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans
"To voluntarily and informally observe in their own
way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing
from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence
or listening to 'Taps."
The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right
direction to returning the meaning back to the day.
What is needed is a full return to the original day
of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for
the nation to get together to remember, reflect and
honor those who have given their all in service to
their country.
But what may be needed to return the solemn, and
even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a
return to its traditional day of observance. Many
feel that when Congress made the day into a
three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act
of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be
distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day.
As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address:
"Changing the date merely to create three-day
weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day.
No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the
general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial
Day."
On January 19, 1999 Senator Inouye introduced bill S
189 to the Senate which proposes to restore the
traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back
to May 30th instead of "the last Monday in May". On
April 19, 1999 Representative Gibbons introduced the
bill to the House. The bills were referred the
Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on
Government Reform.
References:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pacentre/memory.htm
http://www.cnn.com/US/9805/25/memorial.day.wrap/
http://www.jal.cc.il.us/johnlogan.html
http://www.usmemorialday.org/act.html
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