Dr. Mark Browning’s Memorial Day Speech 2010 Evansville Indiana
Mem.2010.5.30…edit1015am
Memorial Day Speech 5.30.10 at New Salem Cemetery 1400 hrs Evansville, IN Mark Browning
Over the century, more than 35 million men and women answered the call to arms in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and countless unnamed military engagements. More than half a million of them never came home. Some died in battle, others in captivity; all died too soon.
Recent military action in Afghanistan and Iraq has offered fresh reminders of the human reality of war: ordinary men and women leaving homes and families and all they know to risk their lives for an ideal of honor, or duty, or just to protect the soldier next to them. People of patriotism and goodwill may debate the merits of any given war, police action, or humanitarian mission. But there should be no debate about our debt to the hundreds of thousands of our citizens who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives heeding the nation’s call to service.
Memorial Day is more than the start of summer. It is a chance to pause and remember the sacrifices — remember the gallantry and bravery — remember the fallen.
Why are we here today? Why was this Decoration Day or Memorial Day created by our government? How have our memories of loved ones evolved over time? What can we do to further the appreciation of our ancestors and loved ones by our community?
We are here to commemorate our comrades who lie buried in this cemetery and cemeteries all over the world in defense of our beloved country. Their lives that were lost have sacrificed their futures for our futures. We are here to keep their memories alive.
I will recite a short poem by an anonymous author.
In every generation
There have been those who answered the call
To defend freedom
To oppose tyranny
And free the oppressed.
All gave some
Some gave all
They were with us then
They are with us now.
They love,
They prepare,
They comfort,
They yearn,
They fight,
They pray,
And sometimes they die
Yes, these same brave souls are with us today
But what is more important
Is that we are here with them.
God bless our military men and women.
The first official observance of this holiday was on May 5, 1866. The holiday is also known as Decoration Day because tradition calls for decorating the graves of servicemen with flowers and flags as stated in General Logan’s order by Mr. Brown. In the Years immediately after the civil war, there was an enormous outpouring of human grief. It as if the country finally stepped back to regard the horror of what had been done. Honoring the dead became the best way to accomplish a healing.
From 1868 to 1882, the day was called Decoration Day…..In 1882; the Grand Army of the Republic suggested it be called Memorial Day.
From the beginning of time, people have celebrated the circle of life and death. Honoring the dead has been a practice of many civilizations. The ancient Druids, Greeks and Romans decorated graves of their loved ones with garlands of flowers on certain days. We are following that same tradition today. In Mexico, Aztec Indians celebrated life & death hundreds of years ago. They invited their dead relatives to visit them each autumn. They could not see these dead spirits. But they believed they could feel them all around.
Among the Chinese, the centuries-old “Festivals of the Tombs”, an ancestral remembrance day known as Ching Ming has long been a social occasion for visiting cemeteries and for performing rituals in memory of the dead. So has Japan’s ancient Feast of Lanterns, or Bon, when Japanese welcome the visiting souls of the departed and light their way back to the hereafter with lanterns sent across the waters in miniature boats. In Christian countries, there is All Soul’s Day. It is a day for decorating graves with wreaths, flowers or candles. In the United States, the dead veterans of the nation’s various wars have been honored on a secular holiday known as Memorial Day. During the 20th and 21st centuries, our citizens, like many of you today, use this day to pay tribute to their loved ones be they military or civilian.
In the 21st century this holiday honors those who died in all American Wars. We are one of many of the Cities in the USA holding ceremonies for Memorial Day that often include posting of colors (Lee Jordan & Retired Veterans Memorial Club), prayers (B. Riedford), speeches (by Bill Mitchell, Mr. Brown, and myself, and singing of national anthem( by Phyllis Johnson) and the playing of TAPS(by Millard Wilke).
On December 28, 2000, Congress passed a law designating 3:00PM (local time) on Memorial Day as the National Moment of Remembrance. This was created to help educate children about the meaning of Memorial Day.
Most family memory practices we take for granted today in 2010 do not predate the mid-nineteenth century. Apart from Aristocrats, few Europeans or Americans bothered about ancestors or origins before 1850. Seventeenth century individuals imagined their family trees had branches without roots. Most of their contemporaries did not know where their forebears were born or buried. Anniversaries were rare and family reunions were unknown. When family members came together, it was for practical purposes. Time spent together was for work or play and was devoid of ceremony. Baptisms, weddings and funerals were not family but communal occasions. Life was very difficult at that time. Survival was the main focus. When one is worried about survival, memories are not the priority
But all this changed with the industrial revolution around 1830. Families became different than households. Families no longer required strangers in their household for survival. Families ceased to be things of just the moment and acquired both a past and a future. From this point forward, remembering replaced forgetting as the central cultural practice of family life.
As T.S. Elliott said “Only through time, time is conquered”.
It is when we stop moving between past, present and future, when past becomes an end in itself and memory ceases to become a creative resource.
The men and women who will be mentioned on the roll call today and in past years are our heroes of today and yesterday. Their spirits tell us to preserve our liberty and heritage of the Freedom that they so dearly fought for. Words can say so little when they gave so much!!
Our sorrows and wishes cannot make them rise from the dead or reverse their individual histories. The best we can do is to appreciate our fine country and preserve the finest of all civilizations for our future generations. Our fallen soldiers’ spirits would tell us to proceed and preserve our liberty as they have done so gallantly.
Thank you!!!!
