Memorial Day 2009
ByRoughly three years after the Civil War ended, Major General John A. Logan established a national “Decoration Day” as a time to decorate the graves of its Civil War dead with flowers.
Although Logan was the leader of an organization of Union army veterans, the first large observation of Decoration Day was held at General Robert E. Lee’s former mansion at Arlington National Cemetery and the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers were strewn with flowers and prayers and hymns were sung for those who fought for the South as well as the North. It was through this respect for the dignity of both Union and Confederate soldiers that Logan helped reunify a nation and create the national holiday that we celebrate today as Memorial Day.
We believe that community and business leaders should work in this spirit of unity to create a homecoming for military men and women currently fighting a Global War on Terror with fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This should not only acknowledge their honor, but also assist them in reentering civilian life in the homeland they fought to protect.
This is a necessity for a country that wants to remain a good country as well as a strong one, but it is also one of practical economic imperative. President Obama has repeatedly promised to bring over 100,000 troops stationed in Iraq home from deployment. That number includes a large number of national guardsmen who are not career military. These fighting men and women as well as those who will return from Afghanistan over the next year or two will reenter a society and economy with growing head-of-household unemployment and too few jobs to be found. Too many will also have to cope not only with a soft economy, but also with life-altering and potentially debilitating physical and mental injuries, a growing anti-war counter-culture, and invidious discrimination.
Politicians in both major political parties have supported funding to provide training for our returning veterans and have passed laws such as the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act to protect national guardsman who are required to leave positions in order to fight abroad, but government has never been able to legislate the community support necessary to reintegrate an army returning from war and it will not be able to do so today. The bulk of this job must be done by local business people, professionals, and by friends and neighbors not out of fear of civil penalty, but out of deference to a higher law.
Memorial Day was born in a time when America had serious quesions and concerns about whether she could rebuild herself. But, North and South came together, the country not only rebuilt itself and survived, it thrived. The next century would be deemed by more than one historian to be the American century. We urge business and community leaders responsible for setting policy and making decisions about how their companies will react to the return of soldiers in tough times to consider that today, like the first national Day of Decoration, is a time for unity.
[Throughout the day, we will continue to provide Memorial Day tributes and news from throughout the web here and in our Daily Handpicked Headlines]
Video Tributes
Internet Tributes
Frank But Kind: Sure, Let Them Carry All the Burden
Frank But Kind: 1918 Photo of 18,000 Men Standing in Formation to Create the Statue of Liberty
NY Times: Dear Donna… A Pinup So Swell She Kept G.I. Mail
FOX News: AMERICA’S TALKING – Your Memorial Day Message
Flopping Aces: Interactive Search of the Vietnam Wall Memorial
Hot Air: A Memorial You May Not Have Seen
Transterrestrial Musings: Space Heroes
Blogs of War: National Moment of Remembrance (Video)
Flopping Aces: A Memorial Day Message for the Ages
Flopping Aces: The History of Memorial Day
Red State: The Lost Heroes of the War on Terror: Gallant Deeds and Untold Tales
Powerline: Leo Thorsness: Torture thoughts on Memorial Day
Volokh Conspiracy: History of Memorial Day
All American Blogger: “The worst thing possible…another sailor just died.”
Moonbattery: Memorial Day Playlist
Moonbattery: World War II Posters
Exurban League: Memorial Day Music Blogging: British Sea Power
Exurban League: Greater love has no man than this
Exurban League: Don’t let anyone ever tell you the Navy doesn’t fight
Exurban League: Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force
Exurban League: Where do we find such men?
WSJ: The Last Letter Home
