Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865 and claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history, requiring the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.  By the late 1860’s Americans in various towns and cities began holding springtime tributes to the countless fallen heroes, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

Numerous communities independently initiated memorial gatherings, and it is unclear exactly where the tradition originated.  Records show that one of the earliest commemorations was organized by a group of freed slaves  in Charleston, SC, less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865;  nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, NY, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.  Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

On May 5, 1868, Gen. John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month.  “The 30^th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.  The date for Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, Gen. James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.  Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and continued the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday.

Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I.  In fact Confederate Memorial Day is still celebrated separately in several states.  This year Florida celebrated on Sunday, April 26^th, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi on Monday, April 27^th; and parts of South Carolina on May 11th.  The practice of commemorating the Confederacy became even more controversial after the massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015.

Memorial Day, as the holiday gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting the Civil War, but during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971.  The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.

This year we are fighting another war against an unseen enemy, a microscopic monster that has infected nearly five million people and caused 325,000 deaths worldwide and claimed more than 1.5 million victims and caused over 90,000 deaths in our country; and the numbers continue to mount.  This conflict is being fought by a new breed of hero: doctors, nurses and first responders who are on the front line sacrificing their safety for their fellow Americans; mail carriers, truckers, food producers, suppliers and vendors and those who provide the necessities to keep us alive.  They all deserve to be acknowledged for their courage and dedication.  We owe them our thanks.

But this holiday we are not able to show them our appreciation, to deliver our accolades or bestow our gifts of gratitude.  We are mandated to stay at home, to maintain social distancing and to wear masks when in public.  We can’t even give them a hug or a kiss—we can only pray for their safety.  By staying apart we are coming together to help in this battle.  United we will overcome this latest enemy.  God help us all.   LovEstelle

On a personal note: I want to express my pride, praise and prayers for my three special heroes:  son Ed, an Emergency Medical Technician; daughter Stephanie, MD; and grandson Brett, EMT and volunteer fire-fighter (who will celebrate his 29th birthday this weekend)—all facing daily dangers.  God Bless and keep them safe.