DECORATION DAY On May 30, 1868, over 5,000 Americans gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to decorate the graves of 15,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. General James A. Garfield, who had fought at Shiloh and Chickamauga, spoke these words on that first Decoration Day: With words we make promises, plight faith, praise virtue. Promises may not be kept, plighted faith may be broken, and vaunted virtue be only the cunning mask of vice. 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. “If silence is ever golden,” Garfield reminded his listeners, “it must be beside the graves of 15,000 men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the music of which can never be sung.” As we remember “the one supreme act” of so many Americans this Memorial Day weekend, let us also silently say thank you to all who have served their country in any capacity. Such service is also one of the highest virtues of men and women as citizens. BTW. Garfield was elected president in 1880, and was assassinated the following year. After the War to End All Wars – World War I – Decoration Day became Memorial Day.
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 01:16:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015