Intro
I know, I know, I’m a week late on talking about this subject. This is what happens when you become a responsible adult. Your bank of expandable “free time” suddenly and drastically shrinks. But I’m still trying to keep this thing afloat. I have a few local topics looming that I can write about, but let’s try something on a national scale.
History
Before going into what the holiday means to me, I should first try to provide some background on what Memorial Day is. According to History.com, Memorial Day was created in 1868 as Decoration Day meant to honor fallen Civil War soldiers. Over time, other Northern states would adopt the idea. Southern states would wait until after World War 1 to begin integrating it.
As America fought in more wars, the purpose of Decoration Day grew in its coverage of deceased soldiers. Decoration Day properly became Memorial Day in 1968 with the passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The Act also created a three day weekend for Federal employees and went into effect three years later. Memorial Day is still celebrated on the last Monday of the month of May.
Personal Connection
Now that I’ve hopefully provided some helpful background about Memorial Day, I’ll discuss how I feel about it. I have a bit of a deeper connection with Memorial Day because of my heritage. The military sort of runs in the family. My father served in the Air Force and two grandfathers served in the Army.
One of the grandfathers even served in World War Two in Africa and wrote an autobiography. We have a small table with a mixture of memorabilia relating to him, including his book. I haven’t read it yet, which feels like the definition of a missed opportunity. I don’t really know why I haven’t; it seems like a good potential subject.
Closing
By no stretch is the notion of remembering fallen soldiers unique to the U.S. Tens, likely hundreds of countries have military or war heroes. But maybe what makes Memorial Day special is that it is a full day set aside for this purpose. Perhaps I’ll retroactively add a photo of my “Grandfather’s table” if I get comfortable with the idea of showcasing my family history. For now though, stay well everybody.
James Meyer 