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First observed in 1868, Decoration Day commemorated more than 600,000 men who died during the American Civil War. The family of the dead soldiers would decorate the soldier’s graves with flowers thus the title Decoration Day. It was not until 1882, that the name was changed from Decoration Day to Memorial Day. Eventually it became a day to remember all those who fought and died while serving their country. Memorial Day was declared a national Holiday in 1971 officially celebrated the last Monday in May.
Memorial Day means many things to many different people in the United States, for business it means offering huge sales and tremendous discounts. For many employees it means a holiday off with pay, cook outs, a day at the lake, fun sun, and beer, and fires are lit for the hamburgers and hot dogs, and then of course participants getting lit up. Hey after all it is a holiday.
For many Veterans and their families it is a day in which they remind their friends and neighbors about their loved ones who paid the ultimate price for this wonderful country we live in. They died so that we may live in a country where every one wants to live. People come from far off lands, pay extravagant amounts of money to take a chance of getting caught and going to jail, dying on a desert, drowning in a river, just to come in search of the all too well known American Dream.
Sometimes as we are driving by a cemetery on the way to the store or another place and you see a group of men dressed in the uniform of the DAV or VFW and they are saluting the flag or in Prayer to God, stop and think for a minute, who are they remembering? Chances are they are remembering a loved one or a friend who died many years ago in a land far from home. Many of the men /women who died knew from the onset there was a chance death could greet them in a far off land and they would not go home again.
This is one day that we should all stop and give thanks to God who has blessed our country with everything we have. We hear and see the phrase Freedom is not free bumper stickers which announce Freedom is not free, well ladies and gentleman that is an absolutely true statement. Many Veterans return with missing limbs which are obvious and others with emotional problems where a prosthetic will not help. This Memorial Day why not take an extra few minutes and attend a service where ever there may be one, say an extra prayer for a Gold Star Mothers (mothers who have lost a child to a war) and remember who paid for this freedom we enjoy.
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