Today is Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember those who died in service for our country, the United States of America. It’s difficult to prove the origins of this day as over two dozen towns and cities lay claim to the birthplace. In May 1966, President Lyndon Johnson stepped in and officially declared Waterloo, N.Y., the birthplace of Memorial Day.
One thing is crystal clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War (which ended in 1865) and a desire to honor our dead. On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, who was the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, officially proclaimed it in his General Order No. 11. The general proclaimed, “The 30th of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country and whose bodies lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”
The General called the date “Decoration Day.” Many states recognized this date, but it was after World War I when the holiday changed from honoring those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.
In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem:
We cherish too, the Poppy Red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) became the first veteran’s organization to nationally sell poppies. Memorial Day wouldn’t be complete without the birth of the “National Moment of Remembrance,” which was a resolution passed in December 2000, which asks that at 3 P.M. local time, for all Americans, “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps’ ” on the last day of May.
I’m sure God does not want us to be at war, but if war persists, God would want us to be free to worship Him and to remember those who died to save our freedom. I Peter 2:16-17 says: “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.”
Prayer: God, help us to celebrate and remember our loved ones who fought for our freedom. May we all live as servants to You! Amen.
By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Image: Adobe iStock
