A Memorial Day to remember

A Memorial Day to remember

Over the years, the character of Memorial Day has changed.

Its roots reach back to the Civil War — on the Confederate side. Mary Logan, the wife of Union Gen. John A. Logan, was touring Southern battlefields with Gen. William T. Sherman when she took note of the regional custom of decorating soldiers’ graves. When she returned home, she suggested to her husband that the custom be adopted for Northern soldiers as well.

On May 5, 1868, Gen. Logan, then commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a general order declaring May 30 as a day to decorate “the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.” Gen. Logan’s concept was endorsed by Congress in 1871,

This history has particular interest to the Mahoning Valley, as detailed in a story by Bill Lewis on Page One and in a video Lewis filmed for Vindy.com. Gen. Logan’s only son, John A. Logan Jr., married a Youngstown woman, Edith Andrews, and made his home here. He, too, was a soldier of distinction. Maj. Logan was killed Nov. 11, 1899, at San Jacinto in the Philippines and was posthumously award the Medal of Honor. His body lies in Oak Hill cemetery, marked by a small white marble government issue stone, its engraving embellished in gold, as befits those elite soldiers who hold America’s highest recognition for valor.

Flags as witnesses

But walk through the gates of any Ohio cemetery and you will see the same small flags flying above the graves of those who served and sacrificed in wars and police actions dating from the Revolution to today’s conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But even as Americans continue to risk and lose their lives, this day has been diminished. Fewer people each year turn out for parades and memorial services.

This is partially an outgrowth of action by Congress 100 years after it approved Gen. Logan’s concept of Memorial Day. In 1971, Congress fixed the holiday as the last Monday of May so as to provide a three-day holiday weekend into perpetuity.

And so for too many, today has become not a singular day to remember those who gave their lives for their country, but the unofficial first day a summer, a day of picnics, recreation and relaxation rather than a day of remembrance.

The nation has gained a long weekend — which is surely worth something to many — but it has lost something else that is priceless.

To reconnect in part with the solemnity of the day, go to Vindy.com and watch the four minute video during which local veterans take turns reading Logan’s General Order No. 11. You’ll hear the occasional catch in their voices, and you’ll know that words such as “let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor” have a special meaning to the men and women who served along side fallen patriots.

A different era

It is impossible to turn back the clock to those years following World War II when almost everyone turned out for Memorial Day parades. The hard fact was that no neighborhood — virtually no family — escaped that war unscathed.

But it is possible to remember what this day is supposed to be about and to take the time and make the effort to “cherish tenderly the memory of our heroic dead.”

And perhaps next May, when you’re planning how you’ll spend your Memorial Day weekend, you’ll fulfill the true spirit of the holiday by making time for one of the area’s parades or memorial services.