Let Us Truly Remember

This is a portion of a post I wrote for Memorial Day, 2012, which I've repeated several times since with some new material.  Tomorrow will be a special Memorial Day we couldn't even have imagined a year ago.  It's time to revise and run this again.

Memorial Day is the holiday where we honor our war dead.  This year, it isn't just the war dead.  It's all the dead.  I wonder how many World War II vets have met their end since COVID-19 hit our shores and our nursing homes, too.
 
Memorial Day in the United States, sadly, had also evolved into a major shopping event for many people.  It missed the element of what it originally stood for.  But now, in states where stores are open, it's a "take your choice if you want to risk it" occasion.  And people want to get out there so badly, as they remember how things were just months ago.  Just see the pictures of crowded beaches in states with open beaches.

There are several versions of the origin of Memorial Day.  Some of the stories depend on if you were from the Federal side, or the Confederate side, of the United States Civil War (1861-1865.).  What the stories have in common is that Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day, originated in a desire to honor the sacrifice of those who died in our Civil War.  The Library of Congress lists several stories.  Here are what are perhaps the two main origin stories:

Waterloo, New York, considers itself the birthplace of Memorial Day, and has a federally recognized Memorial Day museum.  According to this story, Henry Wells, a local druggist, suggested a holiday in the fall of 1865 to honor the sacrifice of Civil War dead.  The idea gained traction, and the first Memorial Day was held on May 5, 1866.  This year, their ceremonies have been cancelled, incidentally, although New York State is permitting vehicle parades and gatherings of less than 10 people.

But there are other stories. One takes place in Mississippi, a state late a member of the Confederate States of America.  As that story goes, many of the wounded of the bloody battle of Shiloh (1862) were taken to Columbus, Mississippi.  Columbus ended up with its Friendship Cemetery full of Civil War dead of both sides.  Eventually, the Federal dead were relocated to other area cemeteries.

According to Columbus, the first Memorial Day was held on April 5, 1866, as the women of Columbus decorated the graves of both Federal and Confederate soldiers buried in Columbus.

Some states of the former Confederacy also have separate holidays, called Confederate Memorial Day, or Confederate Heroes Day.

Regardless of what the "true story" of Memorial Day is, I want to leave you with this thought for 2020 (and hoping not for 2021, too):

Each loss of life from COVID-19  diminishes each of us.  I will think of those veterans of wars, especially World War II, who gave up their late teenaged and early adult years to fight for our freedoms.  Now, many die alone, unable to have family there to ease their last moments.

Forget me nots

We may never know the true death toll of "The Rona".

Let us not forget those who have passed in the past few months.

May your Memorial Day today be a meaningful one.