Memorial Day which became a Federal Holiday in 1971 honors the men and women who died in combat while serving in the U.S. military. However, as a young man I can distinctly remember my grandparents referring to it as “Decoration Day.” On this day they would decorate the graves of those who like my great-great grandfather fell at Cold Harbor. As The Battle Hymn of the Republic notes many of these soldiers “died to make us free.”
Sadly, the Civil War claimed over 1.5 million casualties – more than any other conflict in American history. Most families were touched by the horror of this war which pitted brother against brother. By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers to honor their service and self-sacrifice which kept the Union intact.
Records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. in 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance, “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.
Of course, since the Civil War, the United States has fought two World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Global War of Terrorism. In all armed conflicts, we have lost a grand total of a grand total of 1,354,664+ recorded casualties many of them from the Shenandoah Valley.
To put it in perspective, each one of the fifty stars that adorn our flag represents the death of roughly 27,000 American Soldiers, sailors, Airmen, and Marines that paid for the freedom you enjoy today.
Our freedom has come at this terrible price and Memorial Day is the one day we honor their sacrifice for this great Republic. A sacrifice that is a true expression of selfless service—one that no one would pick for themselves and yet many willingly sacrificed their lives to ensure the freedom of future generations of Americans they would never know.
At cemeteries across the nation, families will pay their humble respects and quiet tribute to those who gave their lives so that we, the living, may be heirs to the freedoms they defended. As we approach this sacred day never forget what they gave so that you may live.
Unfortunately, a “thank you for your service” can only be passed on to the living and not the dead we honor on May 30th for they have “departed the surly bonds of earth and touched the face of God.”
