Lore suggests that in the shadow of the Civil War, communities, North and South, held springtime tributes to their fallen soldiers, decorating graves with flags and fresh flowers. It became to be called Decoration Day, first officially observed May 30, 1868. In 1971, as the Vietnam war played out fully on the evening news, a public war with tremendous private sorrow in communities across the nation, Memorial Day became a federal holiday on the last Monday of May.

Assigned to the Old Guard, among the war dead, I first read these words:

“Not for fame or fortune. Not for place or rank. Not lured by ambition or goaded by necessity. But in simple obedience to duty as they understood it. These men suffered all. Sacrificed all. Dared all. And died.”

I would co-op these words years later as a congressional speechwriter, dusting them off each spring. Grand public words meant to temper private sorrow and loss, with an eye on patriotism and the vote.

These words are found on the Confederate Memorial in Arlington Cemetery, dedicated on June 4, 1914 with an address by President Wilson “before a crowd which included thousands of former Union and Confederate soldiers,” with an observer writing, “Peace had finally come to our Nation again!”

Leaving me this day to wonder about the communities across the nation torn apart by cultural battles that mostly benefit those who trade in divisiveness. A poor testament to those who gave their lives for country and community. Those who indeed: “Sacrificed all. Dared all. And died.”

Photo by: Elizabeth Fraser, U.S. Army