MEMORIAL DAY 2012

Memorial Day 2012

Air Force Major Terry Dutcher, of Hill Air Force Base, Utah, visits the grave of her son, Army Corporal Michael Avery Pursel, who died serving in Iraq in 2007 at age 19, surrounded by flags placed by soldiers at each grave for the annual “Flags-In” in honor of Memorial Day, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.on Thursday, May 24, 2012.

MAY 28, 2012

Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. (Southern ladies organizations and southern schoolchildren had decorated Confederate graves in Richmond and other cities during the Civil War, but each region had its own date. Most dates were in May.)

By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. As a marker it typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Memorial Day is an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as people visited the graves of their deceased relatives in church cemeteries, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family gatherings, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 auto race, held since 1911 on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

ARLINGTON CEMETARY

In preparation for Memorial Day, there’s a place in Arlington that might be worth a look — and it’s not Arlington National Cemetery.

Thousands pass by it daily, but many don’t realize that the large, stone structure flanked by cannons across from Clarendon Ballroom (and near the Clarendon Metro station) is actually a war memorial. It was put up by the American Legion and honors Arlington citizens who died in combat, up through Vietnam.

Of particular interest to historians is the World War I plaque on the side of the memorial, facing the intersection of Washington, Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards. Note that the last two names are separated from the others and have the distinction of “colored” listed in parentheses.

County historians say this highlights the racial tensions at the time the plaque was made. However, a local resident with knowledge of the memorial’s history, who requested not to be named, says it wasn’t necessarily a sign of racial tensions. He said it’s simply representative of “how life was at that time.” There’s been debate over changing it, but the decision was made to leave the plaque as is.

The plaque has remained this way during the memorial’s multiple moves. The original location was at Wilson Blvd and Highland Street, then Clarendon Circle, then Courthouse. It was brought back to Clarendon in 1986 and has been there ever since.

The memorial was first erected in the early 1930s.

For many Americans, the central event is attending one of the thousands of parades held on Memorial Day in large and small cities all over the country. Most of these feature marching bands and an overall military theme with the National Guard and other servicemen participating along with veterans and military vehicles from various wars.One of the longest-standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, an auto race which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911.

It runs on the Sunday preceding the Memorial Day holiday. The Coca-Cola 600 stock car race has been held later the same day since 1961. The Memorial Tournament golf event has been held on or close to the Memorial Day weekend since 1976.

Because Memorial Day is generally associated with the start of the summer season, it is common tradition to inaugurate the outdoor cooking season on Memorial Day with a barbecue.

The National Memorial Day Concert takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol. The concert is broadcast on PBS and NPR. Music is performed, and respect is paid to the men and women who gave their lives for their country.

Flags at half-staff until noon

On Memorial Day the flag is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day.

The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.

Gettysburg

The ceremonies and Memorial Day address at Gettysburg National Park became nationally well known, starting in 1868. In July 1913, veterans of the United States and Confederate armies gathered in Gettysburg to commemorate the fifty-year anniversary of one of the Civil War’s bloodiest and most famous battle.

“Gettysburg, PA: Before 150,000 persons, President Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial on the famous battlefield during the impressive and stirring 75-year Reunion, attended by 1,800 Civil War Veterans, both Blue and Gray.” only sound of brief FDR speech.

2) World-Wide New Events – King Sees Naval Display “Weymouth, England: Colorful and impressive fleet maneuvers, demonstrating Britain’s ‘Rule of the Waves,’ are staged for George VI, who witnesses the thrilling war games from the Flagship ‘Nelson.'” (some parts silent in this partial newsreel without narration)

The four-day “Blue-Gray Reunion”featured parades, re-enactments, and speeches from a host of dignitaries, including President Woodrow Wilson, the first Southerner elected to the White House since the War. James Heflin of Alabama was given the honor of the main address. Heflin was a noted orator; two of his best-known speeches were an endorsement of the Lincoln Memorial and his call to make Mother’s Day a holiday. His choice as Memorial Day speaker was criticized, as he was opposed for his racism. His speech was moderate in tone and stressed national unity and goodwill, which gained praise from newspapers.

In the North

The friendship between General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, New York, and General John A. Logan, who helped bring attention to the event nationwide, was likely a factor in the holiday’s growth.

On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic – the organization for Union Civil War veterans – Logan issued a proclamation that “Decoration Day” should be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle.

Events were held in 183 cemeteries in 27 states in 1868, and 336 in 1869. The northern states quickly adopted the holiday; Michigan made “Decoration Day” an official state holiday in 1871 and by 1890, every northern state followed suit. The ceremonies were sponsored by the Women’s Relief Corps, which had 100,000 members.

By 1870, the remains of nearly 300,000 Union dead had been reinterred in 73 national cemeteries, located near the battlefields and therefore mostly in the South. The most famous are Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania and Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington.

The National Woman’s Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, Inc., is a patriotic organization whose express purpose is to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic, as we are their auxiliary organized at their request on July 25 and 26, 1883 in Denver, Colorado, and incorporated by Public Act of the 87th Congress on September 7, 1962.

The Memorial Day speech became an occasion for veterans, politicians and ministers to commemorate the War – and at first to rehash the atrocities of the enemy. They mixed religion and celebratory nationalism and provided a means for the people to make sense of their history in terms of sacrifice for a better nation.

People of all religious beliefs joined together, and the point was often made that the German and Irish soldiers had become true Americans in the “baptism of blood”on the battlefield. By the end of the 1870s much of the rancor was gone, and the speeches praised the brave soldiers both Blue and Gray. By the 1950s, the theme was American exceptionalism and duty to uphold freedom in the world.

Ironton, Ohio, lays claim to the nation’s oldest continuously running Memorial Day parade. Its first parade was held May 5, 1868, and the town has held it every year since.

However, the Memorial Day parade in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, predates Ironton’s by one year.

In the South

Historians have traced how a separate tradition of Memorial Day observance which emerged in the South was linked to the Lost Cause and partially merged into the national day of memory. Historians acknowledge that the Ladies Memorial Association played a key role in that development. Starting in 1866, the Southern states established Confederate Memorial Day, with dates ranging from April 25 to mid-June. By 1916, the June 3 birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was observed as a state holiday in 10 southern states.

1. Mrs. Winlack 2. Mrs. Littledale 3. Mrs. Calder 4. Mrs. Dick 5. Mrs. Napier 6. Mrs. Beattie 7. Mrs. Kettles 8. Miss Fraser 9. Mrs. Adams 10. Mrs. Cochran 11. Mrs. Crowe 12. Mrs. Bell 13. Mrs. Wright 14. Mrs. Nisbet 15. Mrs. Fraser 16. Mrs. Hutchison 17. Mrs. Ballantine 18. Mrs. Devar 19. Mrs. Galbraith 20. Mrs. Gould 21. Mrs. Cooper 22. Miss Mathers 23. Mrs. McFarlane 24. Mrs. Donaldson 25. Mrs. Rice 26. Mrs. Ewing 27. Mrs. Johnson 28. Mrs. Purvis 29. Mrs. Orr 30. Miss Barbara Evelyn Williamson

Across the South, associations were founded after the War, many by women, to establish and care for permanent cemeteries for Confederate soldiers, organize commemorative ceremonies and sponsor impressive monuments as a permanent way of remembering the Confederate cause and tradition. The most important was the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which grew from 17,000 members in 1900 to nearly 100,000 women by World War I. They were “strikingly successful at raising money to build Confederate monuments, lobbying legislatures and Congress for the reburial of Confederate dead, and working to shape the content of history textbooks.”

On April 25, 1866 women in Columbus, Mississippi laid flowers at the graves of both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery. The early Confederate Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the day and attend to local cemeteries.

Around 1890, there was a shift from this consolatory emphasis on honoring specific soldiers to public commemoration of the Confederate cause. Changes in the ceremony’s hymns and speeches reflect an evolution of the ritual into a symbol of cultural renewal and conservatism in the South. By 1913, Blight argues, the theme of American nationalism shared equal time with the Lost Cause.

Memorial Day 2012

While Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, it also marks something else: The opportunity to thank and our soldiers and honor those who we’ve lost.

So this year, in addition to firing up the grill and relaxing with family, consider volunteering or donating as part of your Memorial Day tradition.

HERE is Memorial Day 2012: 7 Ways To Honor Military Members Huffington Style.