It was a rainy, lousy "Memorial Day Weekend", or was it? For I learned more about the holiday this year than in all my years of school. Please endulge
me as I share.
I, as a Civil War re-enactor had committed to two Memorial Day parades
that weekend. The rain had caused each one to be cancelled with the reasoning that the local townsfolk would not come out in the rain to watch a parade. How sad, I think, after doing some research on the origins of the holiday and what it has come to mean to Americans.
The history of Memorial Day goes back to last days of the American Civil War. There are many communities (24 in fact) that lay claim to being the birthplace of the holiday. All share some common threads which capture the spirit which created this holiday. They all revolve around the widows and orphans of our war torn countryside meeting, either by chance or by some pre-planned method, to decorate the graves of our nation's fallen. Some of the recounts from the Southern states credit the Southern women decorating the graves of their loved ones. On seeing the undecorated graves of the Union soldiers, thoughts of Northern families unable to visit their loved one's graves prompted the Southern women to lay flowers there.
The holiday became official in the rank and file of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1868, when General Order 11 was issued by Major General John A. Logan. This order provided for the members of the GAR, all Northern Civil War veterans, to remember their comrades and their families and "... garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor."*
A handful of us (re-enactors of the 2nd and 3rd New Jersey Infantry) who were en-route when the parade was cancelled gathered in Civil War uniform on the historic courthouse lawn of Somerville, NJ. It was on this very ground that Somerville sent the 3rd NJ Militia to the Civil War, that Washington's Continental Army had marched across in the War for Independence, that the townsfolk of Somerville had wished their sons and husbands "God Speed" as they sent the Fourth NJ Infantry off to World War 1. The streets were wet and quiet. I was standing with five other patriots in front of the flag poles on the lawn. We stood at attention and saluted as our musician took out his trumpet and played the "Star Spangled Banner". Sgt. Hugh Brennan made a brief speech in honor of all those who perished so that we could be there that day, then we sounded "Taps". The notes seemed to hang out there in the air through the almost deserted streets. The only ones to hear other than us were the spirits of those we were there to remember.
If this vision of Memorial Day was in the hearts and minds of the
citizens, wouldn't they line the streets to honor our Veterans? Would they let some rain or inclimate weather stop them for a few hours to stand in reverance for the soldiers who endured so much and gave, as Lincoln said, "the last full measure of
devotion"?
I returned home and as I watched the local newscasters broadcasting about how the bad weather was affecting Memorial Day attitudes and sales
figures, I started to become dis-enchanted with the idea that we have taken what started as a solemn observance of those who gave their lives for our country has deteriorated into a self-serving "Unofficial Start of Summer" long weekend. Please do not let the true meaning of Memorial Day be sapped from our memories. Teach the children of the everyday heroes "... who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foe"* Teach
your children the price that was paid for freedom. Keep the "Memory" in
Memorial Day.
* Passages from General Order 11, Grand Army of the Republic
** Thanks to the members of the 3rd NJ who made me appreciate more . .
.Memorial Day
