By Lydia Browne
This upcoming weekend is one that BHS students will likely look forward to with even more enthusiasm than usual. This weekend, all will be given one more blessed day without school in celebration of Memorial Day on Monday. Though students may be aware of this, they may not be aware of the purpose of observing this day.
Memorial Day is observed annually in the U.S. on the last Monday of May. It is meant to honor those who gave their lives while serving in the military. The origins of the day lie in the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865. The Civil War claimed more American lives than in any other conflict in the history of the nation. The first national cemeteries were established in response to the large death toll. According to the declaration of the federal government, Memorial Day originated in Waterloo, New York, where businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of the soldiers in celebration of the event starting in 1866.
An early version of Memorial Day was Decoration Day. General John A. Logan, a leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a day of remembrance for the whole nation in 1868. Unlike many holidays which commemorate a certain event in history, the date of Decoration Day—May 30—was chosen because it did not mark any battle. By 1890, each of the Northern states had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states celebrated on separate days until after World War I.
Decoration Day gradually became known as Memorial Day, and as new conflicts came and went, there was even more to honor on that day. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which declared Memorial Day a federal holiday and placed it on the last Monday in May in order to provide the three-day weekend that federal employees and students now enjoy. This went into effect in 1971.
Memorial Day is celebrated with parades, the largest of which are held in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and New York. Many Americans also visit cemeteries and memorials. Some wear a red poppy, which is a tradition in reference to “In Flanders Fields,” a poem written during World War I by Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon with Canada’s First Brigade Artillery. The words are as follows:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Benicia has its own Memorial Day tradition. The Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 25 at 9:00 am at the Benicia Arsenal Post Cemetery.
As we enjoy this three-day weekend, let us not forget to remember the sacrifices that those who came before us have made in the service of their country.
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