All Gave Some, Some Gave All

Memorial day is celebrated in America on the last Monday in May. The day is set aside to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. The day was originally known as Decoration Day and originated in the years following the civil war. The day became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many will spend Memorial Day visiting cemeteries or memorials, others will plan family gatherings or participate in parades and festivals.

The great war on American soils was battled between states and was known as the civil war. The civil war ended in spring of 1865 and claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history. The first national cemeteries were established following the civil war. Prior to the official end of the civil war various towns and cities started to hold spring time tributes to the many fallen soldiers. In honor of the many individuals would travel to the graves of soldiers and decorate them with flowers.

In the afternoon on Memorial Day at 3:00 p.m. a remembrance takes place. The reason for the time is that it was set down by the federal government in 1966 in Waterloo New York. Waterloo first celebrated Memorial day on May 5, 1866 during an annual community event that had businesses close and residents decorate the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

General John A. Logan, (pause for a small plug for southern Illinois and a town named Carterville Il. where John A. Logan college is located. Named after the same famous general) in 1868 was the leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans. Logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance to be held on May 30, 1868. The day would allow flowers and decorations to be placed on graves who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion. The date had no other reason than that it was not the date of any particular battle.

The first Decoration Day saw General James Garfield speak at Arlington National Cemetery. There were more than 5,000 present who helped decorate the graves of 20,000 Unions and Confederate soldiers buried Northern and Southern states did not celebrate decoration day on the same day until after World War I.

Decoration Day and later Memorial day only honored those lost fighting in the Civil War. It would take World War I to change the day to include all American military personal who died in all wars. Logan's chosen date of May 30 would stay the date of the holiday until 1968 when Congress passed  the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that placed Memorial Day on the last Monday in May so all federal employees could have a 3 day weekend.


The practice of decorating graves of soldiers with flowers goes back to ancient times. So while you place flowers on the grave, enjoy family picnic and have the day off Please think about all those who the day has truly been created for

A Memorial Day Salute

Instead of a question and answer, it is appropriate this Memorial Day to salute all those who have given their lives in defense of this nation. Without their sacrifices we would not be free to ask questions, to challenge our political leaders and to take an active role in our system of government. To them we owe an unrepayable debt.

The United States of America was born from the blood and ashes of war - The Revolutionary War of 1776. It was fought to defend the "self - evident" truth "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Those who fought and died were committed to the notion that government derives its "just powers from the consent of the governed" and that when a government does not protect the unalienable rights of the people, it is the "Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Since the war of 1776, nearly two and a quarter centuries ago, thousands thousands of men and women have died for the same cause. Tyranny does not reign in America--as it does so many places around the globe--because so many have love their country more than their own lives.

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