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REPUBLICAN RUNDOWN
Memorial Day, May 31, 2021
Vol. 2, No.7
IN FLANDERS FIELD
BY JOHN MCCRAE
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day. The Civil War claimed more lives than any conflict in the U.S. and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries The largest and best known of those national cemeteries is Arlington in Northern Virginia. The first northern soldiers buried on Arlington Cemetery were on Robert E. Lee’s “front lawn.” When the land was confiscated, it was decided to use the land as a burial ground. It was said that if Lee ever got his property returned, they wanted him to sit on his front porch and see the rows and rows of dead soldiers that died in the War and be reminded daily of the horrors. After the war, Lee, in effect, deeded the entire land to the nation.
On May 5, 1868, a call for a nationwide day of remembrance was issued stating that “The 30th 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.” That day was selected because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle.
Declaration day (which gradually became known as Memorial Day) originally honored only those lost while fighting the Civil War. When the U.S. found itself involved in World War I, the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars.
In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May. Was it to give more time to honor the dead? No, it was established to give the federal employees a three-day weekend.
Memorial Day has become a day for parades, visiting cemeteries and memorials, sales and the beginning of summer. We have lost the tradition of recognizing the price that our military men and women have paid to ensure that "no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic" (General Orders No. 11, Grand Army of the Republic, 1868).
It is time to get back to the tradition of observing what price we pay for freedom. So, let us restart an old tradition – at 3:00pm on Memorial Day stop what you are doing and take a moment to remember that freedom is not free and to say a pray for all those that have lost their lives defending this country. And if you happen to see a service member (past or present) stop and honor them today and every day.
Forsyth County Republican Party
Chairman: Ken Raymond
Phone (336) 724-6000
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://forsyth.nc.gop
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fcncgop
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