Memorial Day still true to its basic message

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day.

There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the civil War. 

While Waterloo, New York, was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen. John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, giving his official proclamation in 1868.

Memorial Day, officially proclaimed by Logan on May 5, 1868, was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890, it was recognized by all northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I. It is now celebrated in almost every state on the last Monday in May, passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971.

It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established.

Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Monica 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.

Monica Michael first conceived of the idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need.

The Postal Service in 1948 honored Monica Michael for her role in founding the national poppy movement by issuing a red 3-cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.