Here is a post that I wrote several years ago, but I think it is worth a repost. It began as Decoration Day following the Civil War in 1868, when Union veterans declared it as a time for the nation to remember the dead by placing flowers on graves. For many years the Union and Confederate soldiers remembered their fallen on different days. They soon merged, and Memorial Day became a tradition to honor all Americans who died while in military service. Volunteers place flags at each grave site in national cemeteries, but many other towns have also taken on the task of acknowledging their fallen in the same tradition.…

It’s been a long while since I’ve forced history upon you guys, here on my blog. Today seems fitting to change that. It began as Decoration Day following the Civil War in 1868, when Union veterans declared it as a time for the nation to remember the dead by placing flowers on graves. For many years the Union and Confederate soldiers remembered their fallen on different days. They soon merged, and Memorial Day became a tradition to honor all Americans who died while in military service. Volunteers place flags at each grave site in national cemeteries, but many other towns have also taken on the task of acknowledging their fallen…

Memorial Day isn’t the day that starts summer, nor is it the day that gives me an excuse to head to the lake to drink like a fool. Memorial Day is the one day that we, as a country, actually stop to think about our freedom. It’s the one day that, as a whole, we appreciate those who gave their lives and sacrificed their futures so that we could have one. Many never made it home while others did, but let us not forget what they ultimately gave. Their lives. I’m thankful for all soldiers, nurses, families and lives from past and present wars and those who pick up the…