Here's a bit of history: Memorial Day (originally called Decoration Day due to the tradition of decorating the graves of fallen American soldiers with flowers and flags), is a day of solemn remembrance for those who died in our nation's service. Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. 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. Waterloo, New York, was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, and in 1968 Congress made Memorial Day a three-day Federal holiday.

So, Memorial Day began in controversy -North versus South-but has endured to become a day that binds an entire country together.

Over the years, hundreds of thousands have given their lives so that we may live a free people. As President Bush said on Memorial Day last year, "Through the course of our Nation's history, more than 41 million Americans have served the cause of freedom and more than a million have died in its name. On this noble American holiday, we solemnly pause to remember the men and women who gave their lives in service to our Nation. We honor those generations and individuals who fought for liberty and in defiance of tyranny that this unique experiment in self-government might long endure."

These heroes first fought for freedom in the Revolutionary War, and then the horrible Civil War. They fought further for freedom through the enormity of two world wars, but with an overwhelming difference. Never before had we fought for our freedoms by defending those of others. Yet when tyranny threatened the nations of Europe and Asia we realized, not without tremendous anxiety, that the threat was to our way of life as well.

The memory of those lost in the world wars is recent enough to be felt by many of us. Ours a personal loss, not a national one, but to quote President Bush again, "… memory is our duty, and on Memorial Day, it is our privilege."

Our heroes fought on again, through the terrible times of Korea and Vietnam-years of hot wars that erupted after decades of cold war. Our defense of freedom was against an ideology we saw as both evil and destructive to liberty around the world. As a people we were challenged to understand and accept the sacrifices we made during these controversial wars, but today we honor those who fell in Asia with the same degree of fervor as those who died before.

Over the years Memorial Day has evolved from a single day of contemplation to a three-day holiday that is more about the start of summer than about honoring heroes. Most Americans have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day, and that's a shame.

To help remind us of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the U.S. Congress passed a National Moment of Remembrance resolution in December 2000 which asks that on Memorial Day, at 3 p.m. local time, all Americans "voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps."

Our family plans to observe this moment of remembrance, and I hope yours does, too. Memorial Day is "observed" on Monday, May 27th this year, although the official day is Thursday May 30. (In Canada, there are similar celebrations in late May.)

Choose either day, but make the effort to remember:

• by visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes;
• by visiting memorials;
• by flying the flag at half-staff until noon; and
• by renewing a pledge to aid the widows, widowers, and orphans of our fallen dead, and to aid the disabled veterans.

Then came 9/11. Here again is President Bush: "It's not in our nature to seek out wars and conflicts, but whenever they have come, when adversaries have left us no alternative, American men and women have stood ready to take the risks and pay the ultimate price."

And again we are paying that price…in Afghanistan, in the Philippines and inevitably elsewhere as we rout out the scourge of terrorism. This time our defense of freedom is also being fought in the homeland, and perhaps the unsettling proximity will make this Memorial Day more special. I predict that Memorial Day 2002 Celebrations and Remembrances will be larger and better observed than in many years. Millions of us will be paying tribute to those who paid the price for our freedom. Let us never forget them!

Sincerely,

Frank L. VanderSloot