Memorial Day 2013
27/05/13 05:25
Nearly 50 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared that Waterloo, N.Y. was the birthplace of Memorial Day. In truth, it is more likely that there were many different memorial days and observances of memory in many different places before the official holiday was observed. The exact origins of Memorial Day will probably never been known, but it is clear that our modern observances have deep roots in the grief and loss that surrounded the Civil War. Even before that war had reached its conclusion, organized women’s groups were decorating the graves of the war dead. This was particularly true in the south. A hymn published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” by Nella L. Sweet carried a dedication “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead.”
The first official order proclaiming Memorial Day was issued by General John Logan on May 5, 1868, and was observed on May 30 of that year. The center of that observance was Arlington National Cemetery. This national military cemetery was begun in 1864 on the grounds of the home that had been the residence of Robert E. Lee prior to the Civil War. There are different opinions on how the land came to be owned by the Army. Some say that it was ceased for unpaid taxes. Others say it was confiscated. Whatever the whole story reveals, it is critically important to our country that the cemetery became the final resting place of the remains of both Union and Confederate soldiers. There are now more than a quarter of a million soldiers buried in the cemetery, but it was much smaller in 1868. General Logan’s order to decorate the graves by placing flowers on both Union and Confederate soldiers was an important step in a very slow process of recovering from the horror and grief of that war. New York observed a Memorial Day holiday in 1873 and by 1890 it was observed in all of the Northern States.
In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln invited us to the serious work of recovery from the war: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
But the pain of the war continued. Southern states refused to recognize the northern Memorial Day holiday for half a century. Different states had different holidays to remember the Confederate war dead.
World War 1 changed all of that. Once again our nation was veiled in the grief of the loss of soldiers in war. This time it was a war against a foreign government. Northern and Southern soldiers fought and died side by side. In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Monia Michael replied with her own verse:
“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.”
The wearing of red poppies in honor of those who died serving the nation grew from that verse. Monia Michael was the first to wear one and then she began selling them to benefit wounded warriors. In 1922, the Veterans of Foreign Wars organized the first nation-wide program of selling poppies. Poppies were also sold in various European countries, most notably in Belgium and France where the proceeds from the sales went to support war orphans.
Memory is an incredibly important part of the process of recovery from grief. Our memories provide a way of connection with those who have been lost. The stories we tell shape our character as we go forth and recover from the loss. But Memorial Day is much deeper than an honoring of those who have died. Memorial Day is also a day to recommit to the living.
We are all shaped by the experiences of our own lives. My age cohort in the United States will always have part of our identity in the Vietnam War. That conflict wasn’t popular. Too many soldiers died without a reasonable explanation of why we were fighting that war. Too many politicians played loose and fast with the honor and lives of soldiers. What is worse, too many people want to forget that the war was part of our history. Those who served, like all who have known the horrors of war, were forever changed by the experience. But popular culture wanted to move on. Politicians wanted to forget. Vietnam veterans have suffered gravely since they returned from that conflict. It has taken nearly 40 years for those injured by Agent Orange to receive acknowledgement that their injuries were war-related. Only after the veterans began to return from the war in Iraq did the Veteran’s Administration begin to understand Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. By that time there were as many Vietnam era veterans who were homeless as had died in the war.
For a vet whose life was destroyed by the war and the experiences that followed, living on the street in a cardboard box, eating meals at rescue missions and diving in dumpsters to survive, it is impossible to feel remembered on Memorial Day.
If we are to truly be faithful to the spirit of this day, we must do more than wave flags, watch parades and eat barbecue. We must do more than pay lip service to honoring those who served. The memory of the losses of war must include not only the decoration of graves, but also a rededication to meeting the needs of those who returned from war wounded. And not all wounds are visible. Not all disabilities involve the loss of limbs.
So I hesitate to wish anyone “Happy Memorial Day.” Perhaps it is more appropriate to say, “May your Memorial Day be meaningful.” Possibly it isn’t the words we say that make this memorial meaningful as much as the things we do to honor those who served. There is yet much work to be done.
Memorial Day is not just one day. It is a lifetime commitment. We will never forget.
The first official order proclaiming Memorial Day was issued by General John Logan on May 5, 1868, and was observed on May 30 of that year. The center of that observance was Arlington National Cemetery. This national military cemetery was begun in 1864 on the grounds of the home that had been the residence of Robert E. Lee prior to the Civil War. There are different opinions on how the land came to be owned by the Army. Some say that it was ceased for unpaid taxes. Others say it was confiscated. Whatever the whole story reveals, it is critically important to our country that the cemetery became the final resting place of the remains of both Union and Confederate soldiers. There are now more than a quarter of a million soldiers buried in the cemetery, but it was much smaller in 1868. General Logan’s order to decorate the graves by placing flowers on both Union and Confederate soldiers was an important step in a very slow process of recovering from the horror and grief of that war. New York observed a Memorial Day holiday in 1873 and by 1890 it was observed in all of the Northern States.
In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln invited us to the serious work of recovery from the war: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
But the pain of the war continued. Southern states refused to recognize the northern Memorial Day holiday for half a century. Different states had different holidays to remember the Confederate war dead.
World War 1 changed all of that. Once again our nation was veiled in the grief of the loss of soldiers in war. This time it was a war against a foreign government. Northern and Southern soldiers fought and died side by side. In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Monia Michael replied with her own verse:
“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.”
The wearing of red poppies in honor of those who died serving the nation grew from that verse. Monia Michael was the first to wear one and then she began selling them to benefit wounded warriors. In 1922, the Veterans of Foreign Wars organized the first nation-wide program of selling poppies. Poppies were also sold in various European countries, most notably in Belgium and France where the proceeds from the sales went to support war orphans.
Memory is an incredibly important part of the process of recovery from grief. Our memories provide a way of connection with those who have been lost. The stories we tell shape our character as we go forth and recover from the loss. But Memorial Day is much deeper than an honoring of those who have died. Memorial Day is also a day to recommit to the living.
We are all shaped by the experiences of our own lives. My age cohort in the United States will always have part of our identity in the Vietnam War. That conflict wasn’t popular. Too many soldiers died without a reasonable explanation of why we were fighting that war. Too many politicians played loose and fast with the honor and lives of soldiers. What is worse, too many people want to forget that the war was part of our history. Those who served, like all who have known the horrors of war, were forever changed by the experience. But popular culture wanted to move on. Politicians wanted to forget. Vietnam veterans have suffered gravely since they returned from that conflict. It has taken nearly 40 years for those injured by Agent Orange to receive acknowledgement that their injuries were war-related. Only after the veterans began to return from the war in Iraq did the Veteran’s Administration begin to understand Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. By that time there were as many Vietnam era veterans who were homeless as had died in the war.
For a vet whose life was destroyed by the war and the experiences that followed, living on the street in a cardboard box, eating meals at rescue missions and diving in dumpsters to survive, it is impossible to feel remembered on Memorial Day.
If we are to truly be faithful to the spirit of this day, we must do more than wave flags, watch parades and eat barbecue. We must do more than pay lip service to honoring those who served. The memory of the losses of war must include not only the decoration of graves, but also a rededication to meeting the needs of those who returned from war wounded. And not all wounds are visible. Not all disabilities involve the loss of limbs.
So I hesitate to wish anyone “Happy Memorial Day.” Perhaps it is more appropriate to say, “May your Memorial Day be meaningful.” Possibly it isn’t the words we say that make this memorial meaningful as much as the things we do to honor those who served. There is yet much work to be done.
Memorial Day is not just one day. It is a lifetime commitment. We will never forget.