Memorial Day Minus One 2021

This post, first written in 2012 and updated periodically, has become a tradition on my blog.  This year, there is increased meaning in the Memorial Day holiday, as the world still struggles with COVID-19 and increased violence in several parts of the world.

Memorial Day is the holiday where we honor our war dead.  This year, it isn't just the war dead.  As of yesterday, the U.S. veteran death toll in VA facilities, per AARP, is around 12, 100.  I wonder how many World War II vets have met their end since COVID-19 hit our shores in our non VA facilities, nursing homes, and other places.
 
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, people want to get out there so badly, as they remember how things were just months ago.  But let's not forget what Memorial Day, May 30, is all about.

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, for the second year.  Let's hope for next year.

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 though:
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.   In 2020, many died alone, unable to have family there to ease their last moments.

Tomorrow, a different type of memorial.