Memorial Day

Posted annually on this critical day, we explore the meaning of Memorial Day and here from those who gave "the last full measure of devotion" so that we can enjoy our lives.  

Transcript

Memorial Day 

Sacrifice - an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.

“But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.  

Abraham Lincoln

“We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country, they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”

James A. Garfield, May 30, 1868, Arlington National Cemetery

The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.”

For thousands of years, memorials have been erected to honor great military victories and leaders. However, for much of history, ordinary soldiers were largely ignored. The Arc de Triomphe honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

This changed during the 19th century when democratic ideals, combined with changing attitudes towards death, resulted in a growing recognition of the contribution and sacrifice of service members in war. However, it would take the catastrophic losses suffered during the First World War (1914-18) before these individuals would take center stage in commemorations. In Britain, this process would be shaped by the vast numbers of men whose bodies either could not be found or identified; and the decision not to bring bodies home but to bury them in remarkable cemeteries near where they had fallen.

The first national observance of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868. Then known as Decoration Day, the holiday was proclaimed by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the Civil War. This national observance was preceded by many local ones between the end of the Civil War and Logan’s declaration.

During that first national commemoration, former Union Gen. and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

This national event galvanized efforts to honor and remember fallen soldiers that began with local observances at burial grounds in several towns throughout the United States following the end of the Civil War, such as the May 1, 1865 gathering in Charleston, South Carolina, organized by freed slaves to pay tribute and give a proper burial to Union troops.

In 1873, New York was the first state to designate Memorial Day as a legal holiday. By the late 1800s, many more cities and communities observed Memorial Day, and several states had declared it a legal holiday. As a result, many cities and people have claimed to be the first to observe it. However, in 2022, the National Cemetery Administration, a Department of Veterans Affairs division, credited Mary Ann Williams with originating the “idea of strewing the graves of Civil War soldiers - Union and Confederate” with flowers.

The World Wars turned it into a day of remembrance for all members of the U.S. military who fought and died in service.

Two other days celebrate those who have served or are serving in the U.S. military: Armed Forces Day (which is earlier in May), an unofficial U.S. holiday for honoring those currently serving in the armed forces, and Veterans Day (on November 11), which honors all those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson notes three inalienable nature rights guaranteed: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness. But, unfortunately, the nature of humanity is such that others will deny these rights. I am a doctrinaire small government conservative with two notable examples, a police force administered best by local polities and a national, standing army under civilian control, I hastily add. And this army does not exist for political experimentation or to make social points. 

It exists, ultimately, to destroy an enemy who wishes to deny the use of the rights elucidated above. And in this act of defense, sacrifices are made. Two treasures of life cannot be renewed. Because of the bounty of this nation, we can make money, energy, food, and drugs to prevent disease. But what none of these drugs can fix is that we will always be limited by time and age. 

The great statesman Henry Kissinger just celebrated his 100th birthday, but even his time will end at some point. 

But that is the standard of our mortality, and it is different when a young, robust, 23-year-old man dies by the murder of another human. But without that sacrifice, there is no Kissinger, no (relatively) unknown podcaster writing his missives, and no listener on the other end. I can recite what happens when invading armies overrun the lands of the conquered. I can tell you about Timur the Lame and Delhi or Alexander and Tyre. There is Constantinople in the 4th Crusade or Hitler in Poland. Without those who provide their sacrifice, there is no peace for us. I have married, raised children, and staffed jobs. I have known sadness and great joys, but I have not known an army taking everything I have, everything my children have and will ever be.  

Lester Archer enlisted in the Army from Fort Edward, New York, in December 1861 and was promoted to Sergeant in June 1864. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865, for his actions at the Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road. It was described as Gallantry in placing the colors of his regiment on the fort.

From the Northwestern Law site, “Benjamin Wohl was one of nine Northwestern Law students who gave their lives serving in the war. Wohl trained with the Air Service in Champaign, Illinois, and Egypt before his deployment to France. During his early days in Europe, Wohl’s squadron was tasked with readying the camps for the arrival of the rest of the troops. In a letter to the Law School newsletter, he complained about the unexciting work, writing it off as “interior decorating.” In the same letter, he wrote excitedly about receiving his commission, understanding his life would be changing soon. He wrote, “I have arrived at last. I am training at a French aviation school, and my cup of joy is filled with overflowing. Bear in mind, please, that I…enlisted in the Aviation section and that I have waited long to fly.” Wohl died in an airplane accident on October 2, 1918, only a few months later.

Here is a descriptor of the book Jack Toffey’s War written by his son, “I see this book as the story my father never got to tell,” John Toffey writes. And what a remarkable story it is that Lt. Col. Jack Toffey never got to tell. In this moving account of a young man’s journey to know a father who went to war in 1942 and never came back, John Toffey weaves memory, history, and his father’s vivid letters home into a fascinating tale of a family, a war, and the threads that connect them.

His dad shipped to North Africa, fighting the Vichy French in Morocco, then the Germans in Tunisia, where he was wounded. In July 1943, he went back to war, leading an infantry battalion in the invasions of Sicily and southern Italy. In January 1944, he landed his battalion at Anzio and was wounded again. After a long, bitter stalemate, Toffey’s regiment led Mark Clark’s push on Rome. On June 3, 1944, Jack Toffey was killed in the hill town of Palestrina, one day before the Allies marched into Rome.

On February 27, 1968, an RF-4C Phantom II (tail number 66-0431) with a crew of two took off from Udorn Air Base, Thailand, on a photo-reconnaissance mission to targets northeast of Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. The aircraft failed to return to base, and a search effort was conducted over its flight path, but neither the aircraft nor its crew could be located. Following the end of hostilities, the remains of the aircraft’s pilot were returned to U.S. custody and identified; however, the other crew member is still unaccounted for.

Captain Thomas Thawson Wright, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Indiana, was a 14th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron member and was the pilot aboard the Phantom when it went missing. He was not seen or heard from again after the aircraft’s disappearance and has not been identified among any remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. After his disappearance, he was promoted to Colonel. Today, Colonel Wright is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

These men came from different states, different backgrounds. Lt. Colonel Toffey was white; Col Wright was black. But all are united under the same code and principle, sacrificing their lives so that others may live theirs.

And here is that final line from the Gettysburg address, that on this Memorial Day in 2023 we should remember, and strive with our support of our current protectors, that none shall have, Lincoln notes, die in vain. “That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”