The History Behind Honoring The Fallen

Memorial Day goes back almost 170 years and countless wars. The tradition, formerly known as Decoration Day, began after the Civil War ended. It is intended to honor the fallen men and women of our armed forces. Memorial Day was officially declared a holiday in 1971, and is celebrated in many different ways. The traditional way, however, is to visit the graves of the fallen on this day, placing flowers and flags in remembrance of their sacrifice.

Many of them paid the ultimate price so we could stay free.

In the first 100 years of our existence, we lost 683,000 Americans to war, with the Civil War accounting for most of that number. In the second 100 years, we lost an additional 623,026 Americans to various different foreign wars, with WWII accounting for 65% of those lives. More recently, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom cost America a total of 6,845 lives. Today it is time once again to honor these lives which have paid such a high cost for freedom.

More Memorial Day History and Traditions

Many have taken to going to visit friends and have dinners together. While others go to the lake to camp and fish. The idea behind these traditions is to celebrate the sacrifice of the fallen by fully enjoying the rights they fought and died for. It marks the beginning of the summer season, and is usually accompanied by parades as well as other celebratory public events. We must, however, make sure we are not so involved with these fun activities that we forget to actually dedicate some time to honoring the fallen.

From History.com: “The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers. It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.”

Arlington National cemetery

Also from History.Com: “On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I.”

Did You Know?

There are many ways in the digital age to honor the fallen. Here is a video honoring the fallen. Watch it and remember that freedom doesn’t come free. Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 pm local time. Stop what you are doing for a few minutes today to honor the fallen alongside your brother and sister Americans. It is always important to keep their sacrifice in the forefront of our minds, lest we neglect the freedoms they suffered so much to protect. General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans in 1868, said it best:

“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.”

There isn’t an American family existing today which did not have a soldier in a war in some far off country, and many of them paid the ultimate price so we could stay free. Drink a beer to them. Cover your heart and sing the national anthem, grill a hot-dog on a boat with a fishing rod in one hand and a spatula in the other. But don’t forget to remember the fallen.