Today is Memorial Day 2006. There are many stories about its origin and several cities and towns that claim that they initiated this most famous and sacred national holiday. One account describes how women in the South organized groups and decorated graves of Confederate dead before the Civil War was over. President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y. as the official birthplace of Memorial Day in May 1966; something that is difficult to substantiate conclusively.
General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, on May 5, 1868, officially declared May 30th as Memorial Day. At this first observance, the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers had flowers placed on them. New York was the first state to recognize this holiday in 1873. By 1890, all Northern states were recognizing this date. (The South refused to acknowledge the day.) It was only after the holiday changed from honoring those killed in the Civil War to Americans killed in any war, that every state joined in together.
What is important, however, is not who was first back then; but, why we celebrate it now– today. Originally, Memorial Day was called Decoration Day and it was celebrated as a day to remember those who had died in the service of our nation. Even though citizens in Santa Rosa and Petaluma were on opposite sides of the Civil War, Memorial Day is not about division or differences; but about coming together to honor those who made the supreme sacrifice with their lives.
In order to have a three-day weekend, the Congress passed the National Holiday Act in 1971 that declared Memorial Day as the last Monday in May (instead of May 30th.) The tradition of wearing a red poppy on Memorial Day was conceived by Moina Michael who was inspired by the poem, In Flanders Field -“We cherish too, the Poppy red -That grows on fields where valor led -It seems to signal to the skies -That blood of heroes never dies.”
In May of 2000, President Clinton issued a Memorandum on the White House Program for the National Moment of Remembrance. He asked Americans to “pause for one minute at 3 p.m. (local time) on Memorial Day, to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all.” Some people, today, believe that the traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over recent years. Not in Petaluma, however. At 11 a.m., today, at Cypress Hill Memorial Park, 430 Magnolia Avenue, Petaluma veteran groups will co-sponsor our community’s annual observance ceremony. In addition to a color guard from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and remarks by local officials, there will be the traditional playing of taps, a 21-gun salute, and the laying of a wreath at the cemetery’s veteran’s memorial.
Once, again, Petaluma will have demonstrated its spirit and sense of community.