|
Monday, May 31, 2004
Editorial:
Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||
 |
||||
From the dead of the Revolutionary War to our most recent losses in Iraq, America's military forces have offered their honor and sacrificed their lives for the good of the nation. Wars have always spawned internal disagreements; protests are nothing new. But there has never been a question about the valor of the men and women who have been called to bear arms. Memorial Day is especially important when the nation is at war. The toll of honored dead grows, and the nation mourns each loss. When those losses involve those close to home, the sorrow is even deeper. Politicians, authors, poets and generals have tried to express the feelings of loss, pride and honor the nation feels for those who sacrificed for our security. None has done it better than Gen. John A. Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, who issued General Order No. 11 on May 5, 1868, declaring May 30 to be a day to place flowers on the graves of the Civil War dead. Logan was not the first to call for decorating graves; women's groups had done so earlier, in the South. Many individual towns had declared their own memorials. But it was Logan whose proclamation expressed the feelings of the nation then, and whose words are appropriate today. We offer them here along with our own salute to the men and women, past and present, who gave their lives so we could live in peace and security. HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC General Order No. 11, Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868 I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstance may permit. We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic. If our eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us. Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan. II. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith. III. Department commanders will use efforts to make this order effective. By order of JOHN A. LOGAN Commander-in-Chief |
||||