Featured image: 3rd Infantry (Old Guard) soldier placing flags at Arlington National Cemetery for Flags in 2023.
Today is Memorial Day. Enjoy your day off and summer kickoff cookout but do not forget what this day is actually about. Remembering those who lost their lives in defense of this nation.
What we now celebrate as Memorial day started as Decoration day following the Civil War. The national observance of Decoration Day, in part, is traced to an order by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a fraternal organization of Civil War Union veterans. On May 5, 1868, Logan issued General Order #11.
GENERAL ORDERS
No. 11I. 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 during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among other things, “of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.” What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic.
If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remains in us.
Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the nation’s gratitude—the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.
II. It is the purpose of the commander in chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this order, and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.
III. Department commanders will use every effort to make this order effective.
By Command of –
John A. Logan,
Commander in Chief
Over the years, the meaning of Decoration Day evolved, gradually expanding from a commemoration of Civil War dead, into a day to honor fallen members of the American armed forces from all wars. In 1888, an American diplomatic delegation to Mexico visited Mexico City National Cemetery on Decoration Day. The delegation laid flowers at the Soldiers’ monument marking the graves of American troops who died in the Mexican war.
As the meaning of Decoration Day evolved, so did the name. By the late 19th century, many Americans were using the term Memorial Day.
In May 1918, as thousands of American troops were fighting in France during World War I, the U.S. Army held Memorial Day ceremonies in the temporary cemeteries throughout the country. The following year, President Woodrow Wilson gave a Memorial Day address in Suresnes American Cemetery outside of Paris, which in time would become one of eight permanent overseas World War I military cemeteries.
During World War II, temporary cemeteries were once again established in combat zones, and were the settings of Memorial Day ceremonies. These observances would continue after the war ended, as the temporary burial grounds were consolidated into the 14 permanent overseas American cemeteries created for the interment of World War II dead.
For many years, Memorial Day commemorations both domestically and overseas took place on May 30. In 1968 Congress passed, and President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This legislation established the observance of Memorial Day on the last Monday in May.