Remembering who we owe

Memorial Day is not to honor living veterans, but the military personnel who died in the line of duty.

“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John A. Logan in 1868.

It was three years after the Civil War ended. Logan was the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, and established Decoration Day. It was a day to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. The general chose May 30 because he believed flowers would be in bloom across the country.

Local variations began in numerous communities throughout the country to honor the soldiers and sailors who died in the Civil War. After World War I the day’s honors were expanded to anyone who died serving our country that died in American wars.

In 1971 Memorial Day was made a national holiday by Congress and President Richard Nixon. During the first national Memorial Day holiday, the tradition of placing small American flags at graves began at Arlington National Cemetery.

This weekend the placement of flags continues. Volunteers give their time to remember the sacrifices made by so many to keep our country free. From the American Revolutionary War to the War on Terror in the Middle East, we have lost 1.3 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast guardsmen, and Marines.

They served our country by placing themselves in danger to protect us. They are our family members, our loved ones, our friends, and our community members regardless of their hometown. They didn’t want to die. We didn’t want them to die, but they lost the lives to defend our country.

When the men and women of our military die in war, we see it as their sacrifice. David Webb Peoples wrote a line of dialog that captures what they sacrificed.

“You take away all he's got and all he's ever going to have.”

That includes people they love and left behind.

Take a moment on Memorial Day to be thankful and remember them. Appreciate what they gave for us.

At 3 p.m. on Monday, please take part in the National Moment of Remembrance with a minute of silence. Think about what you hold dear, about what you love in your life, and thank the servicemen and servicewomen who died for you to have it.

– Bill Stevenson is the editor of the Whitman County Gazette and will be thinking of lost friends and family on Memorial Day.