CAL THOMAS COMMENTARY MAY 30, 2022
DO YOU KNOW THE HISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY? IF NOT, OR TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY, IT IS NOT ABOUT VETERANS. THEY HAVE THEIR DAY IN NOVEMBER. IT IS ABOUT THOSE WHO HAVE FOUGHT AND DIED IN AMERICA’S WARS.
ON MAY 5, 1868, GENERAL JOHN LOGAN, THE LEADER OF AN ORGANIZATION FOR NORTHERN CIVIL WAR VETERANS, CALLED FOR A NATIONWIDE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE LATER THAT MONTH. HE SAID, “THE 30TH OF MAY 1868, IS DESIGNATED FOR THE PURPOSE OF STREWING FLOWERS, OR OTHERWISE DECORATING THE GRAVES OF COMRADES WHO DIED IN DEFENSE OF THEIR COUNTRY DURING THE GREAT REBELLION, AND WHOSE BODIES NOW LIE IN ALMOST EVERY CITY, VILLAGE AND HAMLET CHURCHYARD IN THE LAND.”
IT CAME TO BE KNOWN AS DECORATION DAY. ON THE FIRST DECORATION DAY, PRESIDENT JAMES GARFIELD DELIVERED A SPEECH AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY WHERE FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE DECORATED GRAVES OF THE 20,000 CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS BURIED THERE.
MEMORIAL DAY, AS DECORATION DAY CAME TO BE KNOWN, BEGAN HONORING SOLDIERS WHO
DIED IN WORLD WAR ONE AND EVOLVED INTO A DAY TO HONOR ALL WHO HAVE DIED IN ALL OUR WARS.
THIS IS THE COST OF FREEDOM. THANK A RELATIVE OF A DEAD SOLDIER IF YOU KNOW ONE, VISIT A MILITARY CEMETERY AND PRAY FOR PEACE. I’M CAL THOMAS.
