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Monday, May 25, 2009
It’s difficult to believe that Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to the summer season, has come and gone. However, Memorial Day is much more than an occasion for cook-outs, ballgames, and family get-togethers. The Memorial Day service was held at the American Legion this year, with several in attendance to honor those soldiers who gave of their lives for their country.
Memorial Day began as “Decoration Day” on May 30, a day to honor the Union soldiers killed in the Civil War. The first Memorial Day observance was in 1868 in Waterloo, New York. During World War I, in 1911, the holiday was expanded to included all of America’s fallen soldiers from all conflicts and the name was changed to “Memorial Day.” The date was later changed to allow for long, three-day weekends.
Many people use the day to visit the graves and tidy-up the graves of loved ones as well as decorate the gravesites with flags and flowers.
But this day is a day to pay tribute in honor of the men and women who gave of their lives for our nations freedom.
This moment is sacred with the almost visible presence of the one who has gone before. We come to honor the memory of one who offered their lives in the service of country and who has now enrolled in that great spirit army, whose footfalls cause no sound, but in the memory of mankind, their souls go marching on, sustained by the pride of service in time of war. Because of them our lives are free; because of them our nation lives; because of them the world is blessed. May this service deepen our reverence for our departed comrades.
POW/MIA Empty Chair
Resolution 288, adopted at the 67th National Convention calls for designating a POW/MIA Empty Chair at all official meetings of The American Legion as a physical symbol of the thousands of American POW/MIAs still unaccounted for from all wars and conflicts involving the United States of America.
The Flag
I was born on June 14, 1777. I am more than just cloth shaped into a design. I am a refuge of the world’s oppressed people. I am the silent sentinel of freedom. I am the emblem of the greatest sovereign nation on earth. I am the inspiration for which American patriots gave their lives and fortunes. I have led your sons and daughters into battle from Valley Forge to the bloody ridges of Vietnam to the sands of the Persian Gulf. I walk in silence with each of your honored dead, to their final resting place beneath the silent white crosses, row upon row. I have flown through peace and war, strife and prosperity, and amidst it all I have been respected. My red stripes . . . symbolize the blood spilled in the defense of this glorious nation. My white stripes . . . signify the burning tears shed by Americans who lost their sons and daughters. My stars . . . clustered together, unify the 50 states as one, for God and country. “Old Glory” is my nickname and proudly I wave high. Honor me, respect me, defend me with your lives and your fortunes. Never let my enemies tear me down from my lofty position, lest I never return. Keep alight the fires of patriotism and strive earnestly for the spirit of your republic, and I shall remain the bulwark of peace and freedom for all mankind.
Prayer
Eternal God, we thank Thee for this hallowed soil. Make us worthy, we pray Thee, to guard our heritage of pride through all the years to come. In memory of these, our dead, may we pledge to our beloved land the same service and the same devotion. And, O Lord, secure to us evermore the peace for which our comrades died. Amen.
(The above copy was taken in part from Commander James Wolf speech)
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