A Day of Remembrance

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.  Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.  The day was originally established as a gesture of respect for service and duty, for reconciliation and for healing deep wounds after the US War Between the States.

Although traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over the years, many moving ceremonies continue to honor those who gave their all.  Here are just a few:

Arlington Nat'l Cemetery

Since the late 1950s, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3^rd US Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.  They then patrol 24-hrs/day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.

 

Bay Pines National Cemetery,
St Petersburg, FL

Beginning in 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn.  In 1998, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights.

 

Florida Nat'l Cemetery, Bushnell

Many other Boy and Girl Scout Troops took up the challenge and place American flags at other National Cemeteries – here are several:

 

Boulder, CO

San Francisco, CA



Jacksonville, FL



Please take a moment at 3:00 PM local time on Memorial day to observe a Moment of Silence or listen to Taps, and pause from whatever you are doing to say a word of remembrance and pay your respects.

  

All we have of freedom, all we use or know –

This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
~Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue, 1899