The origins of Memorial Day

[L Verge]

I am not always a fan of Snopes.com, but they have a lengthy article on those who have rights to claim the beginnings of Decoration/Memorial Day. http://www.snopes.com/military/memorialday.asp

Being a military brat, both Decoration Day (what my family called it when I was a child) and the Fourth of July were very special observances. May 30 always meant gathering all of our peonies, irises, and Sweet William blossoms and heading to the cemetery.

[Thomas Kearney]

Thanks to all those who have served. That reminds me (and maybe Gene) of some songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Julr7EAPt8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydWhRObVxrM

[Gene C]

I think of this song on Memorial Day
"The Vacant Chair" by Tenneesee Ernie Ford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG5DlsJGnHg

[ReignetteC]

A complement to Memorial Day festivities is the red "remembrance poppy." The poem, "In Flanders Fields" inspired the use of the poppy as a stirring symbol of remembrance for the men and women who have died in battle. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae penned the seminal poem after surviving the battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium during World War I. After he buried a friend who was killed in battle, McCrae noticed how poppies quickly grew around the graves of the fallen.


In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[LincolnMan]

I had an opportunity to meet and thank a WWII veteran yesterday. He was part of D Day. People like him are what makes America great.

[RJNorton]

I had an opportunity to meet and thank a WWII veteran yesterday. He was part of D Day. People like him are what makes America great.

Sobering statistic:

"More than 16 million Americans served in the war. But fewer than 700,000 of them are still alive today, and they’re dying at a rate of 430 every day, by the projections of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs."

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/memor...a6d23.html

[Gene C]

A complement to Memorial Day festivities is the red "remembrance poppy." The poem, "In Flanders Fields" inspired the use of the poppy as a stirring symbol of remembrance for the men and women who have died in battle. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae penned the seminal poem after surviving the battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium during World War I. After he buried a friend who was killed in battle, McCrae noticed how poppies quickly grew around the graves of the fallen.

Thanks for posting this. It's a beautiful poem. Who ever added this music and whoever did the video captured the feeling and message of the words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKEynoTwp8

[ReignetteC]

A complement to Memorial Day festivities is the red "remembrance poppy." The poem, "In Flanders Fields" inspired the use of the poppy as a stirring symbol of remembrance for the men and women who have died in battle. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae penned the seminal poem after surviving the battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium during World War I. After he had buried a friend who was killed in battle, McCrae noticed how poppies quickly grew around the graves of the fallen.

Thanks for posting this. It's a beautiful poem. Who ever added this music and whoever did the video captured the feeling and message of the words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKEynoTwp8

Great video (and very inspiring). Thanks

[LincolnMan]

I had an opportunity to meet and thank a WWII veteran yesterday. He was part of D Day. People like him are what makes America great.

Sobering statistic:

"More than 16 million Americans served in the war. But fewer than 700,000 of them are still alive today, and they’re dying at a rate of 430 every day, by the projections of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs."

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/memor...a6d23.html

Back in 2002 I presided over the funeral of a WWII veteran. At that time the death rate was 2000 daily. Time takes it toll...

[L Verge]

I apologize for being a day late in posting this, but to me, every day should be Memorial Day when we thank all who have served and all who have given their lives for our freedom. As that crucial day in November draws closer, it is my prayer that the American people will remember what our forefathers from the 1700s onward fought and died for -- and that they will make very wise choices in whom they place in office. Our flag serves better purposes when it is flying in the breeze than when it is wrapped around a young person's coffin.

http://worriersanonymous.org/Share/Mansions.htm

[LincolnMan]

I think of this song on Memorial Day
"The Vacant Chair" by Tenneesee Ernie Ford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG5DlsJGnHg

Love that song!

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Laurie for sending this link:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/eEs4ke7cdN...ailpage%25

[Thomas Kearney]

I want to give a big thank you to all our fallen servicemen and women. They gave their lives for me and many other Americans for our freedom. Because of this, I am free to spend time with this friend of mine:

https://twitter.com/ThomasE_Kearney/stat...7851450368

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day. (Yay, school's out for summer, be sure to follow my Twitter page for my Summer Pizza Tour)

[LincolnMan]

I second Thomas. Thank God for those who gave all!

[Darrell]

A year after the war's end, in April, 1866, four women of Columbus gathered together to decorate the graves of the Confederate soldiers. They also felt moved to honor the Union soldiers buried there, and to note the grief of their families, by decorating their graves as well. The story of their gesture of humanity and reconciliation is now told and retold in Mississippi as being the occasion of the original Memorial Day.

A poet and academic from the north, Francis Miles Finch—a Yale graduate and Skull and Bones member, who later became a judge—heard about and was moved by the magnanimous gesture by the women of Columbus. In the same spirit he wrote a tribute to soldiers from both sides, a poem called The Blue and the Gray.



The above excerpt is from "A Real Story of Memorial Day," by Deborah Fallows. Originally published in The Atlantic on May 23, 2014, the link to the complete article is: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc...ay/371497/

The complete version of Finch's epic "The Blue and the Gray" may be found at: http://www.civilwarhome.com/blueandgray.html