Origin

 

   I can't prove it, but I think I started this column on Memorial Day 2008. I wrote a column in response to a quote from some general who said that people who don't come from military families have no appreciation of the military and the sacrifices that those in the service and their families make. I took exception to this and did so on paper.

   Though I have no documents to back me up, I'm guessing I probably wrote about how my husband and his family are the living consequences of war. My father-in-law, Mr. Warren, served in Europe during the Second World War. He fought in many battles most notably Normandy. Exposure to those battles caused him to return home a changed man. That had a significant effect on his family and to this day his three surviving children. At the end of every column on Memorial Day, I would end with a small tribute to Mr. Warren.

   I just realized that for all these years I have been honoring the wrong people. Memorial Day is the day designated to honor those who "died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle," according to the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs. Since Mr. Warren did not die in battle or of battle related wounds, the correct day to honor him is Veteran's Day. 

   This made me curious, how did Memorial Day get started? A quick search of the internet shows that many places claim to be the origin of Memorial Day. 

   The day was originally known as Decoration Day. This was a day to visit the graves of those who were killed during the Civil War. People would take flowers out to the graves and recite prayers. Many communities would have local observances in both the north and the south.

  One of the stories I came across was about a group of African Americans, recently freed after the Civil War, who reburied the remains of Union soldiers who died in a Confederate prison camp that had been buried in a mass grave. They did this in gratitude for the soldiers fighting to give them freedom. After  the bodies had been properly buried, a ceremony was held.

   Another story is about a group of women in Columbus, Mississippi going to a cemetery to decorate the graves of those who had fallen during the battle of Shiloh. They saw the bare and neglected graves of Union soldiers who were the enemy in the Civil War. Disturbed at this sight they placed some of their flowers on those graves.

   Many cities in the late 1860s were commemorating soldiers who had died in the Civil War in some way. The official birthplace of Memorial Day was declared by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 to be Waterloo, New York. In 1866 the community held a commemoration where flags were flown at half staff and business were closed.

   After World War I memorial observances were expanded to include all those that died in any American war. Memorial or Decoration Day was declared a national holiday in 1971 officially celebrated on the last Monday in May.

   In 2000, The National Moment of Remembrance Act was signed into law. Among other things it encourages all Americans to observe a minute of silence at 3 PM local time wherever they may be. This is the least we can do to remember those who gave so much to us.

Information for this column taken from the History Channel website and a document from the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs.

      For Mr. Warren "Those we love but see no more are not lost...."