Memorial Day Can Still Unite Us

Memorial Day, unlike Veterans Day, is not about military service in general, but about those who died in battle. Next Monday, as Evanston observes the day, it will be the 150th anniversary of this national tradition.

In 1868, General John Logan, commander-in-chief of a veterans’ organization for Civil War soldiers, called for an annual “Decoration Day” to adorn the graves of Union soldiers with flowers. This proclamation regularized a practice that began in the early days of the Civil War and had become widespread after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

Early decoration days were centered on cemeteries filled with more than 600,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who had fallen on battlefields, mostly in the South. The two most noted were at Gettysburg, Pa. and Arlington, Va.

Initially, decoration days in the South focused on Confederate graves, while those in the North decorated Union graves. But there were always those in both North and South that decorated the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers alike. These respectful observances helped knit together a bitterly divided nation.

By the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil War’s bloodiest battle, July 1913, veterans of both North and South gathered at Gettysburg for a four-day observance called “Blue-Gray Reunion.” There, among parades and re-enactments, Woodrow Wilson, the first southern president since the Civil War, delivered a speech. Thus southern and northern versions of Decoration Day were unified into a single national holiday celebrated annually on May 30.

After World War II the name, “Decoration Day” gradually gave way to “Memorial Day.” As this name became official, Congress marked the 100th anniversary of Memorial Day by moving it from May 30 to the last Monday in May. This was intended to make a convenient three-day weekend. Its unintended consequence was to undermine the very meaning of the day, according to the V.F.W.

As we approach the 150th anniversary, let us in Uinta County respectfully prove the V.F.W. wrong and take time to observe the true meaning of the day. For myself, I want to begin by offering some reflections here.

I am moved, first of all, to learn that Memorial Day is most directly associated with the aftermath of the Civil War. More than 600,000 sons and fathers out of a population of more than 31 million were killed in that war. That is proportionally equivalent to the loss of 6 million men in today’s population.

Imagine the devastation and resentment that the two sides of our own culture wars would feel if one out of every fifty people that you know were killed by a fellow American. Imagine the number of widows and orphans, grieving parents and decimated communities.

Considering this monumental rift, it is an absolute miracle that America was ever unified again. But it was. The peace and tranquility of Norman Rockwell’s America came after the horrors of the Civil War. This gives me great hope that America, divided as we seem to be, is not beyond repair and unity.

The reunification of America following the Civil War was tied to Memorial Day and the joint remembrance of both Confederate and Union soldiers. Those who honored the humanity of both sides, saw the truth and led the way to unity.

So also in our day, the acrimony and divisions seen on cable TV and social media are tied to stubborn refusals to acknowledge the humanity – and thus the universal human rights – of all people. It was a sad irony that southern states were fighting for the right to ignore the rights of others. It is our own sad irony that the same thing is going on today. The language of “rights” is regularly used to take away “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Many people in the South were of noble intent. They had legitimate concerns and disagreements about how best to bring slavery to an end without devastating the economy or destroying states rights. But, in the face of all these concerns, there remained one fixed star. The humanity of the slaves must no longer be denied.

So also today, there are a great many disagreements about how best to love and care for all people and how to guard their rights without taking away rights from others. People of good will and noble character can and must engage in thoughtful conversation about all of this.

But at the center of all conversation, there must remain one fixed star. The humanity of the unborn must no longer be denied. Our own unity as a nation will either rise or fall in direct proportion to our ability to recognize the humanity of our own fellow countrymen. This “self-evident” truth must become self-evident again.

As the nation began to heal after the Civil War, Memorial Day became less internally focused and more about soldiers killed on foreign battlefields like Normandy and Iwo Jima, Korea and Viet Nam, Afghanistan and Iraq. In all these places, and many more, Blue and Gray fought side by side. But they fought for the same reason.

They fought to uphold the fixed star that all human beings have intrinsic value. They fought against the dehumanizing values of the Nazis, the Communists and Militant Islam. It is true that these wars were fought to protect American interests, but in most cases, American interests coincided with the defense of a principle, that all men are created equal.

It is also true that, as a Nation, we still fight our own demons. Dehumanizing people based on race, creed, age, ideology and any number of invidious reasons is a constant temptation. We also have had vigorous disagreements about when military action to stand for those dehumanized is warranted and when not. We did nothing in the face of the Communist and Rwandan genocides, but intervened in Germany and Viet Nam.

But on Memorial Day we set aside these arguments about particulars and focus on the underlying principle. The underlying principle, enshrined in the Declaration of Liberty and the U.S. Constitution, declares that all men are created equal. God has made us. All human worth and dignity comes from that natural fact.

Memorial Day remembers individual human beings who answered the call of duty and reported to the front lines. They put their lives in jeopardy and made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this truth. They died on battlefields, foreign and domestic, to defend people they would never meet – Germans, Koreans, Vietnamese and Iraqis – people who were their contemporaries and people yet unborn.

We honor their sacrifice by honoring the people for whom they died. We remember their principle by recognizing the humanity of all our neighbors. That is the heritage they bequeathed to us by their sacrifice.

Next Monday, let us take time to gather as a community and meet those who knew these patriots on the battlefield. The Veterans Board is hosting a Bar-B-Que at the Beeman-Cashin Building from 11:00am until 2:00pm. For $5.00 you can get a lunch and mingle with some of Evanston’s own heroes.

The 150th anniversary of Memorial Day is an excellent time to remove our hats in reverence and thanksgiving. It’s a time to thank God not only for the people around us, but also for preserving among us that one principle that unites us all: One nation under God.