GIVE THANKS

I will not generally blog about holidays (I'll leave that to others) but I do feel compelled to talk about Memorial Day, which really is meant to be more than a three-day long holiday sale.  Memorial Day is significant to me because a number of my family members have served in foreign wars; to include my father, husband and godson.

The United States no longer has a mandatory draft.  This means our military personnel have voluntarily stepped up to fulfill a commitment to protect our freedom.

• Americans freely socialize, exchange and research information on the web, while Internet censorship in China is among the most stringent in the world.  The government blocks web sites that discuss the Dalai Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tienanmen Square protesters, Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement, and other Internet sites.  The government's computers intercept incoming data and compare it against an ever-changing list of banned keywords or web sites, screening out even more information.

• We travel unrestricted around the United States while families in North and South Korea are still separated by the demilitarized zone.

• As we debate and contemplate about whom to choose for our next President, women in Saudi Arabia or Vatican City are not allowed to vote.

I am grateful to each and every member of the United States' armed forces who serves on my behalf to protect my freedom.

Let's take time out to remember the significance of Memorial Day and thank those who serve or have served in our military.

Following is a bit of information about Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May.  Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.  By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states.  The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).  It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead.

Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.  They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.  In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day.  More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts place  a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights.

The military of the United States is currently deployed in more than 150 countries around the world.

Peace

Michele