A Reminder Of What Memorial Day Is, Or It Isn't About The Barbecue And Fireworks

In the midst of the holiday celebrations you'll have or attend this weekend, please make sure to remember why we have this holiday, and those who made, and still make, it possible for you to celebrate. Remember our honored dead.

All gave some: Some gave all.

The beginnings of Memorial Day are shrouded in the mists of time. There are many different versions of the “official” start of the holiday, but the two most prominent versions are wildly different.

The most commonly accepted version of the story begins in Waterloo, New York. In early May, 1866, Waterloo druggist Henry Welles finally got his oft-repeated wish to set aside a day to honor the nation's fallen soldiers.

According to the legend, General John B. Murray, a celebrated hero of the Civil War, supported Welles' cause and cajoled the town to hold a formal ceremony with music, a parade, and the draping of wreaths and black mourning clothes upon soldier's graves.

On 30 MAY 1867, the event was held again. In 1868, Waterloo invited neighboring towns to participate. As more and more towns began honoring their own fallen soldiers, thus the Memorial Day holiday was born.

Another origin story, slightly less well-known, is that Memorial Day started as “Decoration Day” in Charleston, South Carolina. Initiated by black Americans as a way to honor those Union soldiers who fought and died for the freedom of the former slaves.

On 01 MAY 1865, approximately ten thousand people took part in disinterring 257 Union soldiers from a mass grave. After giving them all proper burials in a cemetery setting, then cleaning and decorating the graves, Decoration Day was then filled with speeches by representatives and supporters of the Union, music, and marches. The new cemetery, named “Martyrs of the Race Course,” was prepared by the men of the town, mostly former slaves, ten days prior, complete with a large fence, as well as an entrance archway welcoming those who wished to honor the fallen soldiers.

Whether one origin story is more “true” than the other will probably never be known, at least not to anyone's satisfaction. What we do know to be true is the sentiment behind the holiday – to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the God-given freedoms guaranteed under our Constitution.

It's true that the barbecues, parties, family reunions, and fireworks displays that typically accompany Memorial Day are fun times, but if you don't teach your kids why this holiday even exists, the price paid in blood, you're shortchanging your children and your nation. Remember not just that this nation is still free, but also who has kept it free since its inception.

"It is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing less than the absolute truth. ~ Hunter