Memorial Day
For many folks Memorial Day has become little more than another 3-day weekend, in which we take picnics, hit the golf course, or party with friends. Sadly, the real significance of Memorial Day is often forgotten amidst the busyness and the enjoyment of the holiday. We forget. Or perhaps we choose not to remember. For Memorial Day is a day not to celebrate, but to remember. It is a day to commemorate death. The deaths of those who have gone before us, to defend us, and have died to protect our freedoms. Maybe that’s why we choose to forget. Because death hurts. It brings sadness and is sobering by its nature. Yet intuitively there is a sense that it is important to each one of us that we remember and commemorate the sacrifices of others, of their very lives, so that we may possess lives of liberty and security. In a very real way, it sanctifies their sacrifice of life.
To remember and sanctify the loss of life, particularly in the battle for freedom and safety can be found many times in the Old Testament scriptures. The Israelites would stack stone upon stone to form an altar commemorating their victory provided by God’s hand and purchased by the death of their fellow soldiers. Even in victory, the loss of life, sacrificed for others, was mourned and honored…set in stone, signifying eternal memory.
Today we call this recollection Memorial Day, but it wasn’t always called this. It originally was called “Decoration Day,” and it dates back to the time of the Civil War, when it is said that a group of freed slaves, coming upon a mass grave of 257 Union soldiers, placed flowers upon the grave in commemoration for their bravery and sacrificial deaths. It was an expression of honor and gratitude. One which we are well advised to carry on, even into today’s busy times.
• As most people know, though I hate to assume too much these days, Memorial Day, the last Monday of May, is to commemorate those who have died in our country’s wars; while Veterans Day, celebrated on November 11th, is to honor everyone who serves or has served in defense of our country.
• Memorial Day in the United States dates back to the Civil War days, a war that claimed the lives of more than 550,000 persons over the course of 4 years between 1861 and 1865. Even during that time, people began placing flowers over the graves of fallen soldiers.
• In 1866, the city of Waterloo, New York, that some regard as the birthplace of Memorial Day, came together to decorate graves with flowers and flags and closed businesses to observe and honor those who had died in the Civil War. It was reportedly initiated by a local pharmacist, Henry Welles.
• In the same year, 1866, Mary Ann Williams of the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus called for a national holiday to honor those who had died in the Civil War.
• Two years later, in 1868, John A. Logan, who was a former Civil War general and subsequent founder of an organization of war veterans, suggested that on each May 30th a memorial would be made throughout the nation called “Decoration Day,” which it subsequently became known as. May 30th was reportedly chosen because of the flowers blooming throughout the country at that time of the year.
• After World War I, Decoration Day was expanded to include those killed during that war, and after World War II the name was changed to “Memorial Day.”
• In 1971, the United States Congress established Memorial Day as a federal holiday, to be observed the last Monday of May.
American military deaths:
• American Civil War. 1861-1865: 620,000
• World War II. 1939-1945. 405,399
• World War I. 1917-1918. 116,516
• Vietnam War. 1965-1973. 58,209
• Korean War. 1950-1953. 36,516
• American Revolutionary War. 1775-1783. 25,000
• War of 1812. 1812-1815. 20,000
• Mexican-American War. 1846-1848. 13,283
• Iraq War. 2003-2011. 4,431.
• Afghanistan War. 2001-2021. 2,402
• Spanish-American War. 1898. 2,446
• Gulf War. 1990-1991. 258
I’ve never been to Arlington National Cemetery, but I have visited an allied military cemetery in northern Italy where those less famous lay beneath row after row after row of white crosses.
But numbers alone do not tell the real story of the pain of loss and grief of the spouses and parents of those who died in a far-off land while defending us.
Ways of Honoring by Remembrance:
The Symbol of Remembrance: The Red Poppy:
World War I, from 1914 to 1918, caused the deaths of some 8.5 million total soldiers from all countries dying from injuries or disease. The landscapes of the European battlefields demonstrated the ravages of war with the devastated fields, blown-up trees, bloodied trenches, and quickly dug graves. It was during that time, in the spring of 1915, that young Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian brigade surgeon for an Allied artillery unit, noticed a cluster of red poppies emerging from the scarred, blood purchased soil, and wrote the poem, “In Flanders Field,” which shared the voices of the dead that lay buried beneath those red poppies now breaking through the war-ravaged land. The poem rapidly became a popular iconic symbol of the tragedy of lives sacrificed for the cause of freedom from tyranny; and is still read today in Memorial Day services remembering those who have died.
“In Flanders Fields”
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Beneath the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from feeling hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break Faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
Inspired by the poem, a woman in America named Moina Michael, a professor at the University of Georgia, while taking a leave of absence to volunteer at the Young Women’s Christian Association decided to wear a red poppy to remember the sacrifices of soldiers upon the bloody fields of Europe. The American Legion, a veterans’ organization, supported her efforts and as the idea caught on, people not only in America but across the world then and still now wear the red poppy as an emblem of remembrance of those who have died defending their country. They were sold and the proceeds given to the veterans in need. (In the Allied countries of Europe, Remembrance Day or Armistice Day and the red poppy are celebrated November 11th, the date that the Armistice was signed ending World War I).
Honoring the Flag of the United States of America:
There is a great deal of flag waving on Memorial Day, but do we remember what it actually represents? Why do we feel so strongly that it should be respected? The symbolism contained within the design of the United States flag demonstrates many concepts. The white to signify purity, the blue to represent justice…However, on Memorial Day, it seems to be the stripes of red that speak the loudest to us. For they represent the valor and blood that has been shed by those who defend our liberties and ensure our safety. It is only right and proper that every citizen remember and honor those who have died fighting for these precious freedoms. That is why many Americans are so offended when one chooses to desecrate the American flag, for it dishonors those who have sacrificially died for the cause of every person.
One might ask, “What value is there in remembering the dead? They are gone, they live no more.”
• Remembering reaffirms and reestablishes essential values…values of life, liberty, sacrifice, courage,
• Remembering re-sensitizes one to the pain and suffering of others…teaching us empathy and compassion.
• Remembering revisits lessons of the past, a history containing the tragic mistakes of humanity, from which to learn to live more wisely in the present and in the future.
• By remembering, one is honoring those who died to defend our freedoms…and those freedoms of their family and friends…and for each of us who still live.
A recent poll I came across revealed a declining faith in both religion and patriotism amongst American citizens. Have they forgotten, or do they simply not care about these values? But it’s important to note, that in the case of patriotism, it is not an allegiance to any specific government, but rather an allegiance to the republic of people of the United States, for it is their freedom and their safety that is most precious. That’s what patriotism is. It’s fighting to protect individual freedoms and safety for our family, our friends, and our future. That is why it’s worth dying for those whom we love and hold dear. But we must preserve the memory in order to preserve our freedom and security.
President Reagan’s quote: “Freedom is only one generation away from tyranny.”
Ways to Commemorate Memorial Day:
• Tradition is that the United States president or vice president usually attends a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National cemetery and places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
• Watch the television broadcast of the Memorial Day ceremony or the subsequent performance of the National Symphony Orchestra on the front lawn of the Congress.
• Practice a moment of silence at 3:00 p.m. according to tradition.
• Wear a silk red poppy in remembrance.
• Visit a military cemetery or decorate the graves of veterans with flowers or flags.
• Research and remember those within your family and extended family who have served and lost their lives defending our country and record them for posterity, preserve their photos or any other memorabilia, and share their memory with the next generation.
The book Band of Brothers, by Stephen E. Ambrose, describes an event in WWII, when a young American soldier suffered a fatal wound from a shrapnel injury penetrating his helmet and into his brain. Screaming to be killed in order to cease his searing pain, he soon died in the arms of a fellow soldier.
After his death, a close buddy reflected on those American citizens living insular lives in the security of their homes on the mainland; and he wrote these sad and piercing words of his friend: “He wasn’t twenty years old,” … “He hadn’t begun to live. … and we wondered if the people [back home] would ever know what it cost the soldiers in terror, and hideous, agonizing deaths to win the war.” (Band of Brothers. Ambrose. Chapter 14. Kindle edition.)
Can we choose to remember or are we too preoccupied or too calloused to care?
I, for one, am going to try to approach this Memorial Day with not only a sense of remembrance, but a sense of reverence for those who have died for our freedom and safety. As a means of doing so, I want to share the following letter written during the Civil War by Major Ballou of the Union Army to his wife Sarah. a week before the battle of Bull Run, July 14, 1861. They had been married only six years. These powerful words still touch my soul.
My Very Dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more….
I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this Government and to pay that debt….
Sarah, my love for you is deathless: it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break, and yet my love for country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on, with all these chains to the battle-field.
The memories of all the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God, and you, that I have enjoyed them so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood around us.
If I do not [return], my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle-field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have often-times been….
O Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you in the gladdest day and in the darkest night, amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours—always, always: and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, or the cool air cools your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
Sarah, do not mourn me dead: think I am gone, and wait for me, for we shall meet again….
Sullivan
“Major Ballou was killed one week later at the first battle of Bull Run. I wonder, don’t you, if he did indeed utter Sarah’s name as he lay dying on the battlefield. She undoubtedly suffered the greater pain in the aftermath of that terrible war.”
James Dobson – printed in newsletter from Focus on the Family; March 1994.