In 1868, Civil War Gen. John A. Logan, then a powerful congressman and the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union army veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance of those who died fighting in the Civil War: “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.”
Observed that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., volunteers decorated the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers, as Logan’s declaration formalized and made national the Decoration Day remembrances of the nearly 500,000 military personnel who died during Civil War.’
During World War I, Decoration Day, or Memorial Day as it gradually came to be known over the half century since Logan’s declaration, evolved into a commemoration of American military personnel who died in all wars, starting with the then raging Great War, to be followed by World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars and, in the 21st century, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The total of deaths in all American wars, from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror, according to 2019 estimates by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs, is 1.2 million men and women, touching, especially through the 1950s, nearly every family in the country.
Over the years, Memorial Day has evolved for many into a day of remembrance of loved ones who have passed, regardless of military service, with family members decorating graves in cemeteries across the country.
This year, that remembrance could include the 1 million Americans who have died from COVID-19, a total that, sadly, nearly equals the number who have died in all the country’s wars.
Since its 1971 establishment as a Monday holiday, Memorial Day has also transformed into the unofficial first day of summer, celebrated with blockbuster movies, concerts, family trips and backyard barbecues.
Those “observances” are fine, it is a holiday after all. But the real purpose and meaning of Memorial Day should be kept in mind Monday, remembering and honoring those who have died to preserve our democracy, stop authoritarian aggressors around the world and keep America free. — Lincoln Journal Star
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