Decoration Day was created at the end of the Civil War to honor those who gave "the last full measure of devotion" - their lives - in that terrible conflict. On May 5, 1868, General John A Logan of the Union declared the following:
"The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land."
The Southern States held similar observances at different dates for their fallen heroes, until the observance expanded to include all of those who died in the various conflicts of the world.
There are many cities that claim to have begun the tradition, but Waterloo, N.Y. has been designated as the founding observance.
There are two key sayings that speak of our respect for those who gave their all. From the Scriptures we read in John 15:13:
"Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."
The other words that speak of why we celebrate this holiday are found in words that I remember learning in elementary school - the Gettysburg Address of President Abraham Lincoln.
Do you remember these words?
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." (November 19, 1863, Gettysburg National Cemetery Dedication)
The tradition of decorating the graves of those who died in conflict has been expanded to included all veterans who have died, and in many of our traditions, all of our loved ones. We were discussing this at table the other day and noted that our cemeteries are not as flower and flag strewn as they once were. But for those who uphold the tradition - including my sister, Jane - we are most grateful.
