This article is a challenge. I challenge you here. You, reading this…It’s a personal challenge. A challenge to remember. Today is Memorial Day. For some it means BBQ with family. Others it means a four day Va-ca from work. Or maybe you’re like me, and Memorial Day is a day of solemn remembrance. Some of us have lost people in the many wars we have fought in. We remember those who gave everything they had. Everything they had to give was given to the service of this country. To this right I have to speak freely. To this right I have to bear arms. To this right I have. But I am privileged to nothing. Someone else paid the ultimate price to ensure that I could have those rights. The sacrifice was complete. Then I am reminded of John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. So today, I challenge you to remember that Memorial Day is to honor the fallen This is different from Veterans Day, Flag day, Armed Forces day. It’s the day to honor the dead. Some people have recently had this problem about honoring the dead, but I will always! So, I challenge you, reader, to remember. What’s it gonna cost you really? Stand and be counted and be a part of this country in which you live. Now, let me tell you about Memorial Day, and why it is so special. It’s a day that we are to remember lest we forget.
Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. In his General Order No. 11, “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. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.
In traditional observance, the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon, their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed in December 2000. It asks that at 3 p.m. local time all Americans “voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of Remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps.”
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history/videos/leap-of-faith-a-wwii-story
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday. A side note, Memorial Day honors all men and women who have died in any war or military action. Honor those who were KIA (Killed in Action)
If you have ever been to Arlington National Cemetery, you have probably seen the flags, especially if you go near Memorial Day. Around Christmas time, you would see wreaths, which is another cause. But if you’ve seen the flags you can thank: The Old Guard. On May 26, soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment placed 230,000 U.S. flags before headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. This tradition, known as “Flags In,” has been carried out by the Old Guard for 60 years. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment is the oldest active duty regiment in the Army. It was first assembled as the First American Regiment in 1784. It was finally designated the Army’s official ceremonial unit in 1948.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0w8yrl7LUQ
Those flags remain in place until after Memorial Day, when the Old Guard returns to remove them one by one. Repeatedly pushing flags into the earth is grueling work. Some soldiers carry coins flat against their palms to prevent callouses. Yet they return every year to perform the same duty.
I hope that this opens your eyes for a moment today. Of course, today, it’s all about Michael Murphy! Today, give his family a prayer, because people are hurt today. And the last challenge, I challenge you to look up every soldier killed in action since the American War of Northern Aggression (Civil War). Do it to remember. Have a great time with your family today, have a great vacation, but remember what the original intent of Memorial Day is. The more respect you show, millennials, the more you will prove that you are relatable to something other than the newest Drake song or the newest Kardashian show. Show me that you really do care. Remember the dead. For their families sake!
