In 1868, May 30 was set aside as a nationwide Decoration Day, with the date selected because it didn’t correspond to the anniversary of any particular battle. With summer coming it’s also time to think about this year’s vacation.
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So what are your plans for Memorial Day? The answer: absolutely nothing.
Originally, Memorial Day was known as Decoration Day, a nationwide effort to decorate the graves of those who died in the Civil War.
At Ridgecrest Cemetery, off Ridgecrest Road, Robert Jones, his son and grandsons started replacing flags Saturday morning to remember those who died in service or beyond with the Hollywood Drive VFW Post 6496. On this day many people visit cemeteries and memorials to honor all of those heroes with many volunteers placing an American flag on each grave.
On this Memorial Day, and every day, we are incredibly thankful for every one of them.
Yet, Memorial Day has become less and less an occasion of remembrance or having “such fitting services of respect” for those who gave their lives for this country and more and more a time for self indulgence.
The last Monday in May is now a Federal holiday and formerly called Decoration Day. It has become a day of sales instead of solemnity. Today is a day of pause indeed and beyond the celebrations, pomp and circumstance is the stark reality of incredible sacrifice. In December 2000, the president signed into law The National Moment of Remembrance Act.
On June 18, the fund will host more than 2,000 attendees at an annual ceremony on the East Knoll of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
It is not wrong to want to enjoy a holiday weekend. To some extent that is because the holiday has had different names. The master of ceremonies will be retired U.S. Navy Capt. Denis Faherty, who was an F-4 fighter pilot.
Brandon detoured from pursuing a degree in history but never lost his love of knowledge embracing the famous George Santayana quote: “Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. The men conducted their rites at the invitation of John Alexander Logan, the walrus-mustached IL general and veteran of Vicksburg who now led the Grand Army of the Republic, a national fraternal order for Union veterans.
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Just for good measure, we will also throw in some information about Labor Day because, believe it or not, we’ve seen folks thanking troops on that holiday.
