Decoration Day

 

Decoration Day

a re-thinking by David L Lewis

Three years after the Civil War the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. After World War I the holiday was expanded to honor all American war fatalities. Memorial Day became common usage following World War I, with the name Decoration Day lost in the fog of history by succeeding generations.

Following adapted from Brazil Times blog of May 2009

Memorial Day is designated to honor those who gave the “ultimate sacrifice”. On this day we will hear again about the men and women who have died to “keep us free”. I think this latter declaration a misnomer at very best.

As I understand history, since the Civil War (1860-65) no American soldier has been called upon to give his or her life for the liberty and pursuit of happiness of the people of the United States of America.

This is not to say the sacrifice of our servicemen and women is not commendable, noteworthy and brave. What I am saying is that it is a mistake to say they died for “our” freedom. They did not. With any exceptions the reader is free to point out, our military has largely been called upon to die for the freedom of other peoples in other lands.

Without attempting to be exhaustive, these are the major encounters of US military since Civil War:

Spanish-American War (1898)

World War I (1914-1918)

World War II (1941-1945)

Korea Conflict (1950-1953)

Vietnam War (1955-1975)

Kuwait Conflict (1990-1991)

Iraq Conflict (2003-2023)

In which of these did Americas die for or in defense of our freedoms?

Whatever you think of war (and I for one am ‘agin it), America has largely gone to war because others needed us to preserve their freedoms. Although it is no longer politically correct to say it, America went to war because we thought ourselves a “Christian nation” which ought to behave as such.

Memorial Day, I propose, comes down to this: With possibly few exceptions Americans have not been called upon to defend the freedom and liberty of Americans. Does it give less honor to our dead if we admit we honor them for giving their lives for the freedom of other nations and other peoples? I think not. It seems more honorable that they had nothing to gain for themselves. Will we see a day when it can be truly said that American men and women died to preserve and defend America itself? I (very politically incorrectly) pray not.

Update May 29 2023

America was founded on what is called the Judea-Christian morals philosophy. It is that philosophy which holds America together, that which made it ‘great’. Thus it is great when it fights and dies for freedom wherever threatened; great when it faces up to authoritarianism in whatever form it takes; great precisely because citizen-soldiers give their lives for the freedom of others, whatever the costs.

We need a Memorial Day not only to remind us of our history, but also to teach each new generation what made America great...

      If the Judea-Christian morals philosophy which made America possible holds, every death of every defender of justice is memorable...

      If, though, that philosophical principle fails because new generations do not learn the lessons of history and allow freedom-fighters to perish or authoritarianism to arise, then America may yet fall into the fog of forgotten history alongside “Decoration Day”.

If any of this has made the reader more aware of America’s sacrifice for ’truth, justice, and the American way’, it is worth having been written for some future generation’s Memorial Day.