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Memorial Day takes on its deepest meaning when we connect it with our heritage and roots. Memorial Day is a profound American holiday because it connects the present with so many different points of our past. It was originally known as Decoration Day, a day set aside to honor those who lost their lives in the Civil War—America’s most costly war, taking the lives of at least 620,000 men. Among American holidays, Memorial Day is unique also in that it originated from the vanquished, not the victor. After the war was over, women from the South—Columbus, Mississippi and Richmond, Virginia—set...

It's the Memorial Day image that made Americans online everywhere put their hands to their hearts. A photo that amateur photographer Frank Glick snapped in 2011 of a bald eagle resting on a veteran's gravestone suddenly went viral after the Department of Veterans tweeted it earlier this week. And it's easy to see why. The shot depicts a bald eagle, America's iconic symbol of freedom, perched atop a gravestone, pensively looking out over the expanse. According to an interview with Fox News, Glick snapped the image early one morning at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minnesota before attending a...

Remembering America's Heroes on Memorial Day. John Laurens John Laurens was raised in privilege – for his time – in South Carolina. As the son of Henry Laurens, a prominent southern planter, he was studying in England when war broke out. Laurens left his expectant young wife in England in December of 1776 – she would be safer there while he was participating in the war effort – and he returned home to join what was then known as the Glorious Cause – the goal that we know today as American independence. Young Laurens joined General Washington’s personal staff as...

The easiest way to pay a debt of gratitude is with respect and commemoration. On Memorial Day, remember to pause for a minute of silent honor at 3 PM, local time. Memorial Day is still officially known as Decoration Day. It is a day to remember those who have died in all of our wars.

Ten Neo-Confederate Myths (+one) "Secession was not all about slavery." In fact, a study of the earliest secessionists documents shows, when they bother to give reasons at all, their only major concern was to protect the institution of slavery. For example, four seceding states issued "Declarations of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify Secession from the Federal Union". These documents use words like "slavery" and "institution" over 100 times, words like "tax" and "tariff" only once (re: a tax on slaves), "usurpation" once (re: slavery in territories), "oppression" once (re: potential future restrictions on slavery). So secession wasn't just...

Cantrell said for him, completion of the flag placement Thursday is the most touching moment of the entire weekend: "At the end of the day," he said, "when there are flags across the whole entire cemetery, you can look across to see the service and sacrifice that people of our country have made in order for us to remain a free country."

Memorial Day is a time to remember the fallen heroes throughout our nation’s history “who gave the last full measure of devotion” to their nation. Mere words cannot capture the enormity of their sacrifice or the anguish of loved ones they left behind. Honor those who serve today. On this Memorial Day remember and pray for our troops who are in harm’s way today. And pray for their families and loved ones as they endure the hardship and uncertainty of deployment.

As I type my thoughts for this coming Memorial Day, it is my prayer that are worthy of surviving the flurry of other current events and will have an impact on those who read them and perhaps, will be referred to on other occasions and perhaps help drive the remembrance on future Memorial Days. I always experience a bit of dread as I ponder how to say something of relevance that goes beyond the standard “honoring those who gave all for our freedom” which gets circulated by so many writers while so many Americans head to the beach or prepare...

If you were to suddenly appear this weekend at the numerous barbecues or pool parties, without any knowledge of our nation's history, it might be hard to understand the real meaning of Memorial Day. Is it a day to sell cars, clothes and mattresses? Is it a day off of work, a time to join with family and friends, and grill out? For our family, Memorial Day weekend marks the start of summer. School is out, and we transition from the school year to summer activities. But, oh, it is so much more. Memorial Day can be traced back to...

Humiston Children Memorial Day had its genesis in the Civil War. First known as Decoration Day, the holiday began by commemorating fallen Union soldiers. The event was inspired by how the Southern States had honored their dead, decorating Confederate graves, usually in the time frame of April through June. The first observance in the North was May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery as well as other cemeteries in the Northern States. But after World War I, the North and South agreed on the same date (May 30th). And Decoration Day was extended to all men and women, who...

The smartest president in U.S. history seems to have confused Memorial Day with Veterans Day: President Barack Obama saluted veterans and urged his countrymen to do the same this Memorial Day weekend, saying the nation has not always paid them proper respect. In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said people can honor veterans by sending a letter or care package to troops overseas, volunteering at health clinics or taking supplies to a homeless veterans center. He said it could also mean something as simple as saying "thank you" to a veteran walking by on the street. ****...

This Monday, while the VFW is holding its 10 a.m. Memorial Day ceremony at the Cody Prosser Veteran’s Memorial in Frazier Mountain Park, Gary and Lois Lee of Lockwood Valey will be remembering Gary's father, Lt. Bert Lee. Lee was in the first plane to be shot down in the surprise attack of December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He lived to tell the tale. The phone rang this spring with an amazing message for his family. The well-known turkey rancher and apple grower, who passed away in 2006, had many tales to share around the dinner table about fighting...

" Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 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 of the northern states. The South refused...

Memorial DayRemembering Our Fallen Heroes A Brief History of Memorial Day Decoration DayThe morning of May 5, 1865. The war weary townspeople of Waterloo, New York, continued the recent Sunday ritual of placing flowers, wreaths, and crosses on the graves of their fallen soldiers in their local cemetery. Much the same was happening throughout the country, in both the Northern and Southern states, as Americans slowly healed the wounds that ravaged our young nation during the Great Civil War. That same day, Henry C. Welles, a druggist in the village of Waterloo, suggested at a social gathering that a more...

On Monday, May 27th, the United States will celebrate Memorial Day. For most people it's just a three-day weekend. For some it's a day full of sales at the mall. For the more than 200,000 buried at Arlington National Cemetery, it will be a day when others will visit their graves. The living will do so because these fallen and countless thousands more gave their lives in the defense of freedom and liberty. America has a remarkable history in this respect. There were more than 4,400 deaths during the long war of the Revolution to achieve Independence. That was...

This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend when we remember, reflect and pay homage to all the men and women who have paid the ultimate price for the freedom and prosperity we call the American way of life. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day. It came into being after the Civil War as a day set aside to honor the Union war dead, but actually Southern ladies organizations and school children had decorated the graves of the Confederate dead even as the civil war was going on. Each area had its own date to decorate and though they may...

The solemn act of honoring those who have fallen in battle is a custom that seems to have faded in importance to our nation over time. Nowadays, many Americans have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At cemeteries across the country, the graves of the fallen are sadly ignored, and worse, neglected. While there are towns and cities still planning Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some think the day is for honoring anyone who has died, not just those fallen in service to our country. Perhaps they do not know how deeply...

Today is Memorial Day, once also known as Decoration Day, hallowed to honor our military dead. Started to honor our Civil War dead, it has been expanded to honor all of our military dead of the United States from the Revolutionary War on (1775 to present). Yet in doing so, we still leave some out unless we become more expansive yet and include the 10,000+[1] of an even earlier conflict. I request those who read this, cast their minds back to a war that too many have forgotten but that forged an unbreakable mold upon our continent, "The French and...

On Veterans’ Day, which had its birth in the Armistice Day that celebrated the end of World War I, we thank our servicemen, both current and retired, for their service. We phone our parents, siblings, children… our neighbors or friends… we see someone in uniform at the store, the mall, the airport or at church, and we say, “Thank you for your service.” Of course, we can do that every day, but Veterans’ Day is a special day when we try harder to remember to. Memorial Day, now celebrated on the last Monday in May, is all of the above,...

            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: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of...