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Memorial Day

by: Charley on the MTA

Mon May 26, 2008 at 09:15:07 AM EDT

Remember these folks from Massachusetts who have died since last year at this time:

Staff Sergeant Daniel A. Newsome, Chicopee, d. 27-Jun-2007
Staff Sergeant Robert R. Pirelli, Franklin, d. 15-Aug-2007
Staff Sergeant Alicia A. Birchett, Mashpee, d. 08-Aug-2007
Corporal Jeremy P. Bouffard, Middlefield, d. 22-Aug-2007
Staff Sergeant Robb L. Rolfing, Milton d. 30-Jun-2007
Staff Sergeant Joan J. Duran, Roxbury, d. 10-Aug-2007
Private 1st Class Kenneth J. Iwasinski, West Springfield, d. 14-Oct-2007
Specialist Christine M. Ndururi, Dracut, d. 06-Nov-2007

Seems incongruous to grill, drink and watch parades on a gorgeous day today, but this is supposed to be what it's for ...

Charley on the MTA :: Memorial Day

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Memorial Day | 7 comments

I really appreciate (0.00 / 0)

this Op-Ed from historian James M. McPherson. (McPherson is one of my favorite historians, incidentally, especially for his "Battle Cry of Freedom" and "Days of Destiny" books.)

It hasn't always been this way. Memorial Day began after the Civil War as Decoration Day, a ceremony to place flowers on the graves of those who had given the last full measure of devotion in America's bloodiest war.
Obscurity shrouds the origins of this custom. One version credits Southern women who began decorating graves in 1865. On May 1, 1865, a Northern abolitionist named James Redpath, who had come to Charleston, S.C., to organize schools for freed slaves, led black children to a cemetery for Union soldiers killed in the fighting nearby to scatter flowers on their graves.
What soon became known as Memorial Day spread to villages in both North and South. Several claimed to have celebrated the first Memorial Day. Congress awarded that distinction to Waterloo, N.Y., where Union veterans decorated the graves of fallen comrades on May 5, 1866.

...

In the early years, Memorial Day was a reverential occasion. Death was a pervasive and profound presence. Some 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the war. (If the same percentage of the population were to die in a war fought today, the American war dead would number five million.) [Emphasis mine.]

McPherson looks back to the solemnity of Memorial Day and briefly explains how it took its present form.

by: afertig @ Mon May 26, 2008 at 08:28:37 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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I always thought (0.00 / 0)

It was created by a General Orders issues by Union General Logan.

by: JoeTS @ Mon May 26, 2008 at 09:34:11 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

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And for what, oil (0.00 / 0)

http://www.globalresearch.ca/i...

by: Lasthorseman @ Mon May 26, 2008 at 20:48:12 PM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Hey---I almost got killed a dozen times and had a scores of comrades killed to preserve freedom and human dignity for a bunch of asians. (0.00 / 0)

I mean----how silly was that. Fifty eight thousands Americans died for that joke. Course we had almost two hundred thousand Americans killed in France in WWI to save a bunch of Frenchmen from the Hun. Another waste of time and warm bodies in a European war that was none of our business. Then thirty five years later we had to go back and do it all over again to save the Eiffel Tower.

When are we going to get the message that there ain't noth'n worth fighting for. BETTER RED THAN DEAD.

My mistake---I forgot all those fools who died to save the Union and emancipate a whole bunch of folks who would have been better off as underpaid and underserved agrarian employees. I mean---what government has the right to tell me I gotta go fight for some folks I don't even know--OR care about and some foolish imaginery border. Who the hell is Mason Dixon?

GOD BLESS AND KEEP EVERY MAN AND WOMAN WHO PUT ON A UNIFORM TO DO THE RIGHT THING. Not what was most convenient, Not for what made sense, but because their country asked and they stepped up to be counted.

It is incomprehensible, that no matter the reason, there is a significant group of Americans that would under no circumstance even consider entering service, even to save the lives of their neighbors and perhaps even their families. They will offer great expanses of intellect and arguement that their position is just and honorable. " I don't agree with the governments case" "It's none of our business." "The cause is unjust", I'm in college", "I just got married", "I just started a new job". "The president is a liar and an incompetent", "I don't like the political party in office". There is always a reason why, I can't, I shouldn't, I don't believe, it's unnecessary.

Then there is the very small group of people who account for only 10% of our population who will without question, give their country the ulimate blank check. Written to the United States of America. I____________ the undersigned, give my country my life, if need be.

"Never have so many, owed so much------------to so few."

by: MCRD @ Tue May 27, 2008 at 20:33:38 PM CDT

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Don't even attempt (0.00 / 0)

to sell me that nonsense. Corporate has merged into a single global entity making nations a mere obsolete concept. They use the military soley for profit enhancement. The ranks of politicians and CEOs are a revolving door flying to Davos in their customized Gulfstream jets.

by: Lasthorseman @ Tue May 27, 2008 at 20:45:05 PM CDT

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twas always thus (0.00 / 0)

have you ever read "History of the Peloponnesian War"? Not much has changed since 431 BCE.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners.

by: Laurel @ Tue May 27, 2008 at 23:49:52 PM CDT

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Too true (0.00 / 0)

Then there is the very small group of people who account for only 10% of our population who will without question, give their country the ulimate blank check. Written to the *** . I____________ the undersigned, give my country my life, if need be.

We had wars in Vietnam, in Korea, and in France because every country has that 10%. The most demagogic leaders on Earth -- the Mugabes and Shwes of the world -- love that 10%. The ten percent that don't ask questions such as "why does this cowardly and possibly syphilitic rabble-rouser think it so important to invade a bitterly cold land that was just recently our ally?" These are the ones who you were trying to kill -- and were trying to kill you.

If they're our ten percent, no letters can be capital enough for you. But if not, they're the enemy. Huh.

~~~~
Believe it or not, I have even more to say...

by: sabutai @ Tue May 27, 2008 at 20:51:53 PM CDT

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Memorial Day | 7 comments