(By Joe Carter, The Gospel Coalition). Today, Americans observe Memorial Day, a federal holiday for remembering the people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Here are five facts you should know about this day of remembrance:
1. Memorial Day is often confused with Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military both in wartime or peacetime.
2. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. Three years after the Civil War, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the head of an organization of Union veterans, established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30 since it was believed flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
3. Until after World War I, Decoration Day was a holiday reserved for the remembrance of the Civil War dead. After the Great War the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. 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.
4. Here are the number of veteran deaths from 1917–2017:
World War I (1917-1918)
Battle Deaths – 53,402
Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater) – 63,114
Korean War (1950-1953)
Battle Deaths – 33,739
Other Deaths (In Theater) – 2,835
Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater) – 17,672
Vietnam War (1964-1975)
Battle Deaths – 47,434
Other Deaths (In Theater) – 10,786
Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater) – 32,000
Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990- 1991)
Battle Deaths – 148
Other Deaths (In Theater) – 235
Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater) – 1,565
Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)
Hostile Deaths – 1,843
Non-Hostile Deaths – 503
Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (Afghanistan)
Hostile Deaths – 22
Non-Hostile Deaths – 13
Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq)
Hostile Deaths – 3,481
Non-Hostile Deaths – 930
Operation New Dawn (Iraq insurgency)
Hostile Deaths – 38
Non-Hostile Deaths – 35
Operation Inherent Resolve (against ISIS)
Hostile Deaths – 11
Non-Hostile Deaths – 30
(Note: Battle deaths means the death occurred in or near the “theater” of battle while “non-theater” means the deaths occurred outside the combat zone.)
5. In 2000, Congress passed the “National Moment of Remembrance Act” which designates 3:00 PM. local time on Memorial Day each year as the National Moment of Remembrance, in “honor of the men and women of the United States who died in the pursuit of freedom and peace.” Public Law 106-579 encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at that time for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.
1 Comment. Leave new
In my 23 years of active military (Navy) service I have always taken the opportunity to wear my Uniform at the various 9 Presbyteries I have been associated with over 35 years of ministry. Its been a mixed bag at best, in the more liberal/leftist Presbyteries, on the coasts and I 95 corridor, I either get the cold silence or odd responses from PCUSA clergy who do not know what to make of ministry and the Uniform of service. Or wished folks like me would just go away, and not trouble them with my physical presence.
As the PCUSA embraces a political and ideological form of pacifism, which is very distinct from the historical or biblical pacifism of the Quakers, Amish, Mennonites to name a few, the more hostile to ambivalent the organization will become to the military, people in Uniform, the Veteran and those who have served. It is not that the institutional PCUSA is anti-war or warrior, as a matter of faith or confession, but a matter of who or whom happens to be in office in any given conflict. And what tribal subgroup is served by their polices.
The PCUSA was more than happy to publicly condemn the Iraq war during the Bush Administration, a lesson not lost on me when I was in Iraq. But gave a free pass more or less to the drone wars of the Obama Administration, simply upon political concerns alone. As if war or combat is either good or bad, depending on who or whom controls congress or the White House. I have no illusion the institutional PCUSA would rather get out of the matter of endorsing PCUSA clergy for military chaplaincy, and its only a matter of time before it becomes like the Quakers in many respects, but with far less Grace and far less holistic than that sect.