Memorial Day Honors War Dead, Roots in American Civil War

Memorial Day is a military holiday which focuses uniquely on those who died in battle.  Celebrated on the last Monday of each May, it is also seen as a day off or three-day weekend for many.

      One writer from Chicago argues that we are free to do what we want with our time though all holidays are in danger of being gutted or generalized into an anything fits celebration: “What I cannot accept is the trend to include everyone who has ever died being honored on this one day of the year. One. Day. Of. The. Year. It is Memorial Day. Not Veteran’s Day. Not your great Aunt Matilda raised you and was a wonderful person day. And it is not National Mattress Sale Day.”

       Memorial Day “was formerly known as Decoration Day,” as Wikipedia points out, “and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the war. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service.”

          Americans one and all, the fallen on both sides in the Civil War are remembered on Memorial Day.  Both the Union and Confederate dead.  Because of the finality and closure of death in battle, there is, for many, a “band of brothers” purity that transcends time and national boundaries.  They gave everything they had to give.

        Last night’s PBS Memorial Day special Eagles of Mercy carries this theme even farther.  Set in Angoville, Normandy, right after D-Day, the film focuses on two medics who cared for both US and German soldiers in the pews of the same ancient church.  A common humanity is celebrated, with no hatred of the enemy as the driving sentiment.