Everybody loves Memorial Day. It is the traditional beginning of summer, a well-deserved three-day weekend of relaxation and leisure recreation.
But then we remember that this day is set aside to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of preserving our constitutional democracy. Images of Arlington National Cemetery, the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in Normandy, and the Vietnam Wall in Washington remind us that trying to solve problems on a battlefield destroys both the victorious and the vanquished. In the Civil War, for example, 500,000 soldiers died - 2% of the population.
Some of us who have been hanging around this planet for quite a few years will remember this day was often referred to as Decoration Day. At a Civil War memorial event at Arlington National Cemetery, General John A. Logan declared May 30 to be "Decoration Day." He said the fallen should be honored by "...strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating, the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country..."
However, in the 20th century, especially after WWI (over 100,000 American deaths), the term. " Memorial Day," became increasingly popular in that it honored all American military fatalities, not just those of the Civil War.*
In 1971 Congress made Memorial Day an official national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.
In 2019, the last Monday of May is a good time to not only remember the fallen but remind ourselves of the indiscriminate and senseless slaughter of war.
*Veterans Day, on the other hand, pays tribute to all who have served in the military.
