In 2010, home improvement retailer Lowe’s ran an ad campaign that encouraged Americans to take advantage of the three day weekend and suggested, “Memorial Day… It’s all about the projects!” The company soon saw the error of its ways and in recent years has stepped up efforts to honor our nation’s military heroes by donating to various veterans groups, but also by participating in the National Moment of Remembrance at 3pm local time nationwide.
Unfortunately, few Americans see the true significance of Memorial Day. It is simply the unofficial start to summer for most. It is a three day weekend when a “tent pole” action film (usually with loads of CGI heroes) opens in movie theaters and a holiday that retailers use to clear inventory. And then, there are the barbecues.
None of that would be possible where it not for the very heart of why Memorial Day exists. While many might say today that “Christmas is too commercialized,” and that the meaning is lost, sadly few Americans actually understand the meaning behind the Memorial Day holiday.
Many people think it is a holiday to honor American military veterans, but that’s not entirely true.
November 11, which began as Armistice Day to mark the end of the First World War and evolved into Veterans Day, is when we pay tribute to those who served in the United States military. Memorial Day is actually a far more solemn occasion, or at least it should be.
It is the day that is meant to honor those men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is a time to reflect and remember those American patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting and defending the country they loved.
Origins of Memorial Day
Honoring the dead began in some southern states even before the war ended, but in the years immediately after the Civil War, Mississippi, Virginia and South Carolina all had established precedents for setting a day to pay respects to the fallen.
However, the national day to honor the fallen dates back to May 1868, when General John A. Logan, who was the commander-in-chief of the Union veterans’ group the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a decree that May 30 should become a nationwide day of commemoration for the more than 620,000 soldiers killed in the recently ended Civil War. Gen. Logan reportedly chose that date for Decoration Day not because it marked a major battle – but rather because it was a rare day that did not fall on the anniversary of a Civil War battle.
Logan, who had been a congressman before the war, unfortunately didn’t live to see the day become such an important part of the American fabric. However, he returned to his political career after the Civil War and eventually served in both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. When he died in 1886 his body was laid in state in the rotunda of the United States Capitol – making him just one of thirty-five people to have received the honor.
While it was largely known as Memorial Day, it was actually officially Decoration Day until the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 finally went into effect. That both officially renamed the day, and moved it to a set day – the last Monday in May.
Even at the time, some veterans groups expressed concerns that it would become merely a long weekend of summer and thus fails to honor those veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice. For twenty years that cause was even championed by Hawaiian Senator and decorated World War II veteran Daniel Inouye, who until his death in 2012, reintroduced legislation that would move the holiday back to May 30.
The National Moment of Remembrance is also a more recent addition to the day. The resolution was only passed in December 2000, and it asks that at 3pm local time, all Americans “voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from what they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.'”
While retailers may have sales, and many may break out the barbecue, or hit the road for a day in the sun, the day is still about those who made this all possible. Even if just for a moment of silence at 3pm local time, we should take note and remember those Americans who gave their lives so that we can enjoy our freedoms.
