No One Asked Me But… (May 25, 2022)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… This weekend we will be celebrating Memorial Day. This year, the holiday falls on it’s originally established date of May 30. That date has changed a number of times so workers could have a three-day weekend. This seems to have caused many to forget the meaning of Memorial Day.

When I was a youngster, in the days of long ago, it was called Decoration Day. In those days, immediately following World War II, the purpose was to remember those who had sacrificed their lives in the service of their country. We have now made it a day to honor all of our ancestors. This has blurred the original purpose for the holiday.

One of my kids asked me, “What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day”.
They were having trouble understanding why we honor veterans twice a year. There was no such confusion in the days immediately following World War II.

I believe we have done a disservice to our fallen servicemen when we use euphemism for war. Korea was called a “police action’, Vietnam was a “conflict” and Afghanistand and Iraq were “Overseas Contingency Plans”. Folks, no matter what you call them, these are wars and our fallen are people who gave their lives defending this great nation. It is only right that we take a day to honor these fallen warriors.

When Congress created another three day holiday, by passing the National Holiday Act of 1971, it became easier for people to become distracted from the spirit and the meaning of the day. When the day was always celebrated on May 30, no matter where in the week it fell, people stopped what they were doing to contemplate the sacrifice of those who lost their lives defending our freedom. With the three day weekend, the actual day of remembrance is merely the last day of a three day vacation.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed in 1868 by John Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. He picked May 30, 1868, as the first Memorial Day when flowers were to be placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. While May 30 was recognized by all Northern states by 1890, each Southern state recognized their Civil War dead on different days. It was not until after World War I, when the holiday was expanded to include all those who died in wars defending America, did the South join the rest of the country in recognizing May 30th as Decoration Day. Even today some Southern states have a separate day to recognize their Civil War dead.

Traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over the years. Many Americans have forgotten the real meaning of the day. There were once Memorial Day parades that featured the veterans of the community marching down Main Street. In small towns, the parade often ended at the local cemetery where people decorated the graves of their fallen warriors. What we may need to do is return to the sacred spirit of Memorial Day. The following poem by Theodore O’Hara can help center us on the reason for Memorial Day.

The Bivouac of the Dead
The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat
The soldier’s last tattoo!
No more on life’s parade shall meet
The brave and fallen few.
On Fame’s eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead

No rumor of the foe’s advance
No swells upon the wind,
Nor troubled thought of midnight
haunts,
Of loved ones left behind;
No vision of the marrow’s strife
The warriors dreams alarms,
No braying horn or screaming fife
At dawn to call to arms.

Their shivered swords are red with
rust,
Their plumed heads are bowed,
Their haughty banner, trailed in dust,
Is now their martial shroud –
And plenteous funeral tears have
washed
The red stains from each brow,
And the proud forms by battle gash
Are free from anguish now.

The neighing troop, the flashing blade,
The bugle’s stirring blast,
The Charge – the dreadful cannonade,
The din and shout, are passed;
Nor war’s wild notes, nor glory’s peal
Shall thrill with fierce delight
Those breasts that nevermore shall
feel
The raptures of the fight.

Like the fierce Northern hurricane
That sweeps the great plateau,
Flushed with the triumph yet to gain,
Come down the serried foe,
Who heard the thunder of the fray
Break o’er the filed beneath,
Knew the watchword of the day
Was “Victory or death!”

Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead,
Dear is the blood you gave –
No impious footstep here shall tread
The herbage of your grave.
Nor shall your glory be forgot
While Fame her record keeps,
Or honor points the hallowed spot
Where valor proudly sleeps.

Yon marble minstrel’s voiceless stone
In deathless song shall tell,
When many a vanquished year hath
flown,
The story how you fell.
Nor wreck nor change, nor winters
blight,
Nor time’s remorseless doom,
Can dim on ray of holy light
That gilds your glorious tomb.

This Memorial Day, find a fallen soldier’s grave in one of our local cemeteries and decorate that grave. Let us keep the spirit of the Memorial Day alive. Let us hope and pray that the day will soon be here when we don’t have to add any more graves of fallen warriors to be decorated.

Thought for the week…The story of America’s quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots.
-Randy Vader