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Townhall
Thanks
and Devotion This Memorial Day
Jackie Gingrich Cushman
May 23, 2013
If
you were to suddenly appear this weekend at
the numerous barbecues or pool parties, without any knowledge of our
nation's
history, it might be hard to understand the real meaning of Memorial
Day. Is it
a day to sell cars, clothes and mattresses? Is it a day off of work, a
time to
join with family and friends, and grill out?
For
our family, Memorial Day weekend marks the
start of summer. School is out, and we transition from the school year
to
summer activities.
But,
oh, it is so much more.
Memorial
Day can be traced back to John Logan,
who served as an Illinois congressman prior to the Civil War, then
volunteered
as a Union soldier and was promoted during the war to general. He
issued an
order in 1868 to honor those who died in the war. At that time, he was
serving
as commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal
organization of former Union soldiers.
"The
30th day 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," stated the order. "We
should guard their graves with sacred vigilance," it said, adding that
their deaths were "the cost of free and undivided republic."
The
Civil War was the most deadly war for
Americans. More than 600,000 American soldiers died.
That
first year, approximately 5,000 people
gathered at Arlington Cemetery to decorate the graves with American
flags.
Since then, the custom has grown and spread.
Arlington
Cemetery, located in Virginia, across
the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, is today the
military
graveyard of hundreds of thousands of United States soldiers. On a
recent visit
to our nation's capital, I had the opportunity to walk through the
cemetery and
visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Walking
through the cemetery, surrounded by
thousands of small, white gravestones, perfectly aligned, row after
row, it is
easy to remember the sacrifice that has been made on our account.
Soldiers have
died. Families have lost sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers,
sisters
and friends. There are miles and miles of trails through the cemetery...
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the rest of the article at Townhall
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