by Jerry Dupuis of Inlet, Lt. United States Navy

As we approach what Americans call Memorial Day, it might serve us well to know a bit of the holiday’s history. Originally called Decoration Day, it has always been a day for remembering those who gave their lives in service to America.

There are many stories and claims to its beginnings. However, there is clear evidence that organized women’s groups, in the South, were decorating graves of Confederate soldiers before the end of the Civil War. Nevertheless, in May 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson officially declared Waterloo, NY as the birthplace of Memorial Day.

In any event, it’s not important to know what community was first to celebrate America’s war dead; what is important is that Memorial Day was established, not to emphasize division among us but, reconciliation, and a coming together to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our Country.

Originally, Memorial Day was first officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, by General John Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1873. By 1890, it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died in the Civil War, to honoring all Americans who died fighting in any war.

It was established nationwide when, in 1971, Congress passed the National Holiday Act. Several southern states still honor their Confederate war dead on different dates: Texas, January 19; April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina, and June 3 in Louisiana and Tennessee.

In 1915, inspired by the poem, In Flanders Fields, Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

From this poem, Michael was inspired further to have Americans wear red  paper poppies on Memorial Day, with donations going to various charities who catered to war veterans and their families. I grew up in this tradition during World War II in New Hampshire, and it continues to this day.

The traditional observance of Memorial Day has unfortunately diminished over the years. There are however, some notable exceptions to this lapse of remembrance.

Since the late 1950’s, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3rd U. S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.

These soldiers then patrol the grounds 24 hours a day during the long weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. Finally, in 2004, Washington, D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years!  Talk about forgetting who we are, and how we got here.

Whenever I think about the ravages of war, (I served during the Vietnam War), I am reminded about the serviceman’s and servicewoman’s “unconquered” devotion to duty, God and country.

I would suggest that the best expression of that resilience and determination to duty is nowhere better expressed than in the poem  by William Ernest Henley (English, 1849-1902) who, at the age of 26 wrote the following in 1875 as he was dealing with the loss of one of his legs to tuberculosis:

Invictus

(Latin for Unconquered)

OUT of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

 

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Loom but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

 

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll, 

I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE:

I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL.

—

On this upcoming Memorial Day, let us take just a moment out of our busy lives to remember those who came before, and gave the fullest measure of their lives, so that we could go on and deliver upon the promises they were denied.

May God bless and protect our American servicemen and women, and God Bless America and keep her true to her promise of equality and opportunity for all.