Always Remember

Memorial Day was originally called “Decoration Day” and was a day set aside to honor those who gave their lives in the Civil War. From the good people at History.com:

The 30th 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 of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

During the first celebration of Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.


Arlington National Cemetery is part of a nationwide system of national cemeteries, where the remains of those who served in the armed forces are buried. I remember, as a kid, passing the Golden Gate National Cemetery when my family drove north to “The City” (that’s what we called San Francisco) – I felt a tug of sadness seeing thousands of headstones. I wondered about the stories of every veteran… where he fought, what he was thinking, and how he made sense of it all.

I never imagined that one day I would visit that place. When I am “home” in California, I bring flowers to decorate my dad’s gravestone. He fought in World War II and in Korea. He didn’t talk about it much – even when I pressed him on it – and as I got older I grew to respect that there are some things too hard to talk about.

Today, many people think of Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer. That’s a relatively recent phenomenon: in 1971, Congress set aside ten “legal holidays” and called for observance on Mondays to create long weekends.

I’m all for long weekends, and I like barbeques as much as the next person, really. Yet I also feel like somewhere along the way we’ve lost sight of what Memorial Day is about. It’s a day to remember. I’m with the people at www.usmemorialday.org, who would like to see Memorial Day restored to May 30th. They make an excellent point that, to keep the number of federal holidays the same, Armed Forces day (the third weekend of every May) could be declared a three-day holiday.

There's no going forward without remembering.

Until next time,

Conna