Memorial Day commemorates those who died for their country and others who have passed on. It is a day for tidying up cemeteries and laying wreaths at graves. But it began as a symbol of national unity, a way of helping to bring back together a nation wrenched apart by Civil War. We would eventually become a stronger nation because of this conflict and its resolution, but not until the wounds of the fracture had been healed. Memorial Day began as a first step in that healing process.
On May 5, 1868, Gen. John Alexander Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic (Union veterans' group) declared General Order No. 11, which states:
"The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."
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A proclamation by such a revered group made May 30 the official day for honoring people who died in the war, incorporating into one day the various local days that had been established to honor the fallen. Those who had celebrated Confederate Memorial Day --- either June 3, the birth date of Jefferson Davis, or, as in Maryland, June 6, the day of the death of Confederate Col. Turner Ashby --- gradually joined the official Memorial Day, bringing everyone together in the burial grounds, laying wreaths on the graves of former enemies as well as their own.
In 1971, the federal government changed its observance of Memorial Day to the last Monday in May instead of always May 30. The dead from the two World Wars, the Korean conflict and the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are also honored on this day. In setting aside a time to honor those who died for their county, we are forced to contemplate the tragic toll on humanity that comes from war. This annual, nationwide self-reflection helps us to keep a realistic perspective of the toll of war.
