Memorial Day - 2016

Today is Memorial Day in the United States.  It is a day set aside to reflect upon the price of our freedom and to remember those who paid the ultimate price for that freedom - those who gave their lives.

The idea of Memorial Day didn't not arise from any foreign war fought by the United States - not the World Wars nor even the Revolutionary War by which we gained our independence.  Memorial Day started as a way of remembering the sacrifices in a war where virtually all the dead were Americans - the America Civil War -  625,000 dead, approximately 2% of the nation's population.  From LTC Robert Bateman:

The Mid-1860s are a key period in American history not just because of the War of Rebellion [Civil War] , but also because this period saw the rise of "social organizations." Fraternities, for example, exploded in the post-war period. Many other non-academic "fraternal" organizations got their start around the same time. By the late 1860s in the north and south there was a desire to commemorate. Not to celebrate, gloat or pine, but to remember.

Individually, at different times and in different ways, these nascent veterans groups started to create days to stop and reflect. These days were not set aside to mull on a cause -- though that did happen -- but their primary purpose was to think on the sacrifices and remember those lost. Over time, as different states incorporated these ideas into statewide holidays, a sort of critical legislative mass was achieved. "Decoration Day" was born, and for a long time that was enough. The date selected was, quite deliberately, a day upon which absolutely nothing of major significance had occurred during the entire war. Nobody in the north or south could try to change it to make it a victory day. It was a day for remembering the dead through decorating their graves, and the memorials started sprouting up in every small town in the nation.

Every generation of Americans has cause for remembrance.  For my generation, our existence is due in part to the survivors of World War II our second most devastating war in terms of loss of life.

Each of the 4,048 gold stars represent 100 service personnel lost in WWII

For my generation there is also Vietnam, a war in which we lost classmates, friends and family to the fight in the jungles of Southeast Asia.  And, battle over the war at home divided friends and families as well.  The scars of that war are symbolized by the Vietnam War Memorial, which itself is designed as a scar on the landscape that can be closed by the movement of a few steps.  Then, all that is left is to remember those who were lost.

58,307 names on the wall

Americans please take some time today to reflect on their sacrifices.