Memorial Day 2023

 From CRS:

From 2006 through 2021, a total of 19,378 active-duty servicemembers have died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Of those who died, 24% were killed while serving in in what the Department of Defense (DOD) categorizes as Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)—primarily within the territories of Iraq and Afghanistan. The remaining 76% died during operations categorized as Non-Overseas Contingency Operations (Non-OCO). The categories with the highest number of active-duty servicemember deaths were accidents, self-inflicted wounds, and illnesses or injuries. Table 1 summarizes all active-duty military deaths by category from 2006 through 2021. The data starts in 2006 because DOD implemented a new casualty reporting system then, so the analysis excludes casualties that occurred in earlier years, including during combat operations from 2001 to 2005. DOD Instruction (DODI) 1300.18 details department policies and procedures for reporting military casualties

Military Fatalities

Find more statistics at Statista

Frederick Douglass, 1871: "Victory to the Rebellion Meant Death to the Republic"

Frederick Douglass, "The Unknown Loyal Dead,"
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, on Decoration Day, May 30, 1871

Friends and Fellow Citizens:

Tarry here for a moment. My words shall be few and simple. The solemn rites of this hour and place call for no lengthened speech. There is, in the very air of this resting-ground of the unknown dead a silent, subtle and all-pervading eloquence, far more touching, impressive, and thrilling than living lips have ever uttered. Into the measureless depths of every loyal soul it is now whispering lessons of all that is precious, priceless, holiest, and most enduring in human existence.

Dark and sad will be the hour to this nation when it forgets to pay grateful homage to its greatest benefactors. The offering we bring to-day is due alike to the patriot soldiers dead and their noble comrades who still live; for, whether living or dead, whether in time or eternity, the loyal soldiers who imperiled all for country and freedom are one and inseparable.

Those unknown heroes whose whitened bones have been piously gathered here, and whose green graves we now strew with sweet and beautiful flowers, choice emblems alike of pure hearts and brave spirits, reached, in their glorious career that last highest point of nobleness beyond which human power cannot go. They died for their country.

No loftier tribute can be paid to the most illustrious of all the benefactors of mankind than we pay to these unrecognized soldiers when we write above their graves this shining epitaph.

When the dark and vengeful spirit of slavery, always ambitious, preferring to rule in hell than to serve in heaven, fired the Southern heart and stirred all the malign elements of discord, when our great Republic, the hope of freedom and self-government throughout the world, had reached the point of supreme peril, when the Union of these states was torn and rent asunder at the center, and the armies of a gigantic rebellion came forth with broad blades and bloody hands to destroy the very foundations of American society, the unknown braves who flung themselves into the yawning chasm, where cannon roared and bullets whistled, fought and fell. They died for their country.

We are sometimes asked, in the name of patriotism, to forget the merits of this fearful struggle, and to remember with equal admiration those who struck at the nation's life and those who struck to save it, those who fought for slavery and those who fought for liberty and justice.

I am no minister of malice. I would not strike the fallen. I would not repel the repentant; but may my "right hand forget her cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth," if I forget the difference between the parties to hat terrible, protracted, and bloody conflict.

If we ought to forget a war which has filled our land with widows and orphans; which has made stumps of men of the very flower of our youth; which has sent them on the journey of life armless, legless, maimed and mutilated; which has piled up a debt heavier than a mountain of gold, swept uncounted thousands of men into bloody graves and planted agony at a million hearthstones -- I say, if this war is to be forgotten, I ask, in the name of all things sacred, what shall men remember?

The essence and significance of our devotions here to-day are not to be found in the fact that the men whose remains fill these graves were brave in battle. If we met simply to show our sense of bravery, we should find enough on both sides to kindle admiration. In the raging storm of fire and blood, in the fierce torrent of shot and shell, of sword and bayonet, whether on foot or on horse, unflinching courage marked the rebel not less than the loyal soldier.

But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause. We must never forget that victory to the rebellion meant death to the republic. We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation's destroyers. If today we have a country not boiling in an agony of blood, like France, if now we have a united country, no longer cursed by the hell-black system of human bondage, if the American name is no longer a by-word and a hissing to a mocking earth, if the star-spangled banner floats only over free American citizens in every quarter of the land, and our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty, and civilization, we are indebted to the unselfish devotion of the noble army who rest in these honored graves all around us.

Misunderstanding Memorial Day

SWNS reports:

Less than half of Americans know the true meaning behind Memorial Day, according to a new survey.

The survey of 2,000 Americans revealed just 43% were aware it’s a holiday honoring those who died in service while in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Twenty-eight percent mistakenly believed Memorial Day was a holiday honoring all military veterans who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces — which is actually Veterans Day.

Memorial Day 2018

Harry Stevens and Mike Allen at Axios:

Today is the 17th Memorial Day since 9/11. Since then, 6,940 U.S. military service members have died for America.

Why it matters: Every part of the country has lost soldiers to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All were Americans — someone's neighbor, child, parent, mentor, buddy.

Their average age was between 26 and 27 years old.

The big picture: The losses have not been distributed evenly. Several parishes in southern Louisiana, for instance, have suffered a disproportionate number of soldiers killed since 9/11. Of the five places with the most military deaths per population, three — Tangipahoa Parish, East Baton Rouge Parish, and Calcasieu Parish — are in Louisiana.

Many of the dead came from big cities — 167 hailed from Los Angeles County, the most of any county. Others came from more remote places, like Mineral County, Colo., population 732, home to Sgt. Clinton Wayne Ahlquist, who was killed in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Feb. 20, 2007, at the age of 23. Of all U.S. counties, Mineral County has the highest rate of servicemembers killed in proportion to population.

Today is the 17th Memorial Day since 9/11. In the intervening years, every part of the country has lost young men and women in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This map shows where they came from. https://t.co/ejWjPHqQSz via @axios @AxiosVisuals pic.twitter.com/esJoZnAWqI

— Harry Stevens (@Harry_Stevens) May 28, 2018

 

Frederick Douglass's Speech

Trump apparently thought that Frederick Douglass is still alive.  He is not, but his words are.  On Memorial Day, it is worth remembering his address at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, on Decoration Day, May 30, 1871.

The essence and significance of our devotions here to-day are not to be found in the fact that the men whose remains fill these graves were brave in battle. If we met simply to show our sense of bravery, we should find enough on both sides to kindle admiration. In the raging storm of fire and blood, in the fierce torrent of shot and shell, of sword and bayonet, whether on foot or on horse, unflinching courage marked the rebel not less than the loyal soldier.

But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause. We must never forget that victory to the rebellion meant death to the republic. We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation's destroyers. If today we have a country not boiling in an agony of blood, like France, if now we have a united country, no longer cursed by the hell-black system of human bondage, if the American name is no longer a by-word and a hissing to a mocking earth, if the star-spangled banner floats only over free American citizens in every quarter of the land, and our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty, and civilization, we are indebted to the unselfish devotion of the noble army who rest in these honored graves all around us.

As U.S. Grant wrote as he was dying near Saratoga Springs, NY:

I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.

"The Old Guard"

At the Department of Defense, Shannon Collins writes:

About 1,000 soldiers with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the “Old Guard,” kicked off the Memorial Day weekend yesterday by honoring America’s fallen heroes by placing U.S. flags at gravesites for service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery here and at the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Established in 1784, the 3rd Infantry Regiment is the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the Army, according to the regiment’s website.

The ‘Old Guard’ soldiers fanned out across Arlington’s hills and valleys with rucksacks full of bundles of flags. They approached each headstone, centering a miniature flag exactly one boot length from the base before sinking it into the ground. They placed the flags in front of more than 280,000 headstones and at the bottom of about 7,000 niche rows in the cemetery's Columbarium Courts and the Niche Wall.

Honoring Fallen Troops

Army Pvt. Gabriel Thyfault, a truck driver with the Old Guard, said he and the

other soldiers were reading the names on the headstones where they’d placed flags.
“It’s a huge honor. I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Thyfault, who hails from Chicago. “I couldn’t be more thankful to be out here, putting a flag on every single grave in the entire cemetery. It’s such an overwhelming honor.”

Thyfault said his father served in the Navy, and his uncle served in the Air Force, both during Desert Storm.

Army Staff Sgt. David Rivera, a squad leader from Orlando, Florida, said he’s honored as well. The day was special to him, Rivera said, because he was able to place flags on the graves of friends who paid the ultimate sacrifice when he was deployed with them in Iraq in 2010.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. I’m only eight months into the Army right now, and I’m out here doing something this honorable. It means a lot to me and to my family,” said Army Pvt. Wes DeFee, an Old Guard medic from Charleston, South Carolina.

DeFee said his grandfather served in the Philippines during World War II as a medic.

Tradition

"Flags-In" has been conducted annually since The Old Guard was designated as the Army's official ceremonial unit in 1948. Every available soldier in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment participates, placing small American flags at each headstone and at the bottom of each niche row.

Army chaplains place flags in front of the four memorials and the headstones located on Chaplain's Hill in Section 2. Tomb Sentinels also place flags at the gravesites of the unknown interred at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Approximately 14,000 flags are placed at the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery. All flags are removed after Memorial Day, before each cemetery opens to the public.

The Mission

The Old Guard maintains a 24-hour vigil at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, providing military funeral escorts at Arlington, and more.

“I would do this every single year I could until I retire if I could,” DeFee said. “It’s such an honor to help the families and support them with honor and respect.”

“We’re representing the Army and it’s a great honor,” said Army Sgt. Iwona Kosmaczewska, a medic from Queens, New York City. “We’re trying to do our best to show that honor for the families and veterans.”

Army Pvt. Inem Uko, a medic from Milwaukee, said he loves being a soldier.

“Every day, you wake up and you’re doing something big, and people look up to you,” he said. “It’s a big responsibility. It’s one of the best jobs you can have. I’m glad I joined the Army every day.”

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, a day to remember and honor the nation’s fallen service members, is officially observed the last Monday in May.

“Take time to honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, the ones who have served and given their lives for their country,” Thyfault said.

DeFee added, “All these people out here have given their lives for our daily freedom to live in this great country the way we do. It shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

“It’s a time to remember the people who died to protect our freedoms,” Kosmaczewska said.

Memorial Day 2016

From the Department of Defense:

Remarks of President Barack Obama as Delivered
Weekly Address
The White House
May 28, 2016 

Hi, everybody.  Right now, there are American troops serving in harm’s way and standing sentry around the world.  There are veterans who’ve served honorably in times of war and peace, and often came home bearing the invisible and visible wounds of war.  They may not speak the loudest about their patriotism – they let their actions do that.  And the right time to think of these men and women, and thank them for their service and sacrifice, is every day of the year.

Memorial Day, which we’ll observe Monday, is different.  It’s the day we remember those who never made it home; those who never had the chance to take off the uniform and be honored as a veteran.  It’s the day we stop to reflect with gratitude on the sacrifice of generations who made us more prosperous and free, and to think of the loved ones they left behind.

Remembering them – searing their stories and their contributions into our collective memory – that’s an awesome responsibility.  It’s one that all of us share as citizens.

As Commander-in-Chief, I have no more solemn obligation than leading our men and women in uniform.  Making sure they have what they need to succeed.  Making sure we only send them into harm’s way when it’s absolutely necessary.  And if they make the ultimate sacrifice – if they give their very lives – we have to do more than honor their memory.

We have to be there for their families.  Over the years, Michelle and I have spent quiet moments with the families of the fallen – husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters.  They’ve shared their pain – but also their pride in the sacrifices their loved ones made under our proud flag.

It’s up to the rest of us to live our lives in a way that’s worthy of these sacrifices.

The idea to set aside a Memorial Day each year didn’t come from our government – it came from ordinary citizens who acknowledged that while we can’t build monuments to every heroic act of every warrior we lost in battle, we can keep their memories alive by taking one day out of the year to decorate the places where they’re buried.

That’s something that so many of our fellow Americans are doing this weekend.  Remembering.  Remembering the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who died in our defense.  Remembering those who remain missing.  Remembering that they were our fellow citizens and churchgoers, classmates and children, and more often than not, the best of us.

So this Memorial weekend, I hope you’ll join me in acts of remembrance.  Lay a flower or plant a flag at a fallen hero’s final resting place.  Reach out to a Gold Star Family in your community, and listen to the story they have to tell.  Send a care package to our troops overseas, volunteer to make a wounded warrior’s day a little easier, or hire a veteran who is ready and willing to serve at home just as they did abroad.

Or just pause, take a moment, and offer a silent word of prayer or a public word of thanks.

The debt we owe our fallen heroes is one we can never truly repay.  But our responsibility to remember is something we can live up to every day of the year.

Thanks.  May God watch over our fallen heroes and their families, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Memorial Day 2015: Accounting for the Missing

On Memorial Day, it is worth remembering that the government is still identifying remains from past wars.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency seeks to account for the 83,000 missing personnel from past conflicts: World War II (WWII), the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars, and other recent conflicts. Our research and operational missions include coordination with hundreds of countries and municipalities around the world.

A May 22 release:

The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. soldier, missing from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Cpl. Richard L. Wing, 19, of Toledo, Ohio, will be buried June 5, in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington D.C. In late November 1950, Wing was assigned to Company H, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, which was deployed north and southeast of the town of Kunu-ri, North Korea, when their defensive line was attacked by Chinese forces, forcing the unit to withdraw south to a more defensible position, near the town of Sunchon. Before they could disengage, the 1st Cavalry Division was forced to fight through a series of Chinese roadblocks, commonly known as the Gauntlet. Wing was reported missing in action after the battle.

In 1953, returning American soldiers who had been held as prisoners of war reported that Wing had been captured by Chinese forces in November 1950 near Kunu-ri, and died of dysentery in a prisoner of war camp known as Camp 5 in Pyokdong, North Korea.

Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea turned over to the U.S. 208 boxes of human remains believed to contain more than 400 U.S. servicemen who fought during the war. North Korean documents, turned over at that time, indicated that some of the remains were recovered from the vicinity where Wing was believed to have died.

 To identify Wing’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, to include two forms of DNA analysis; mitochondrial DNA, which matched his sister and brother and Y-STR DNA, which matched his brother.

Today, 7,852 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously turned over by North Korean officials or recovered by American recovery teams.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans, who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil  or call (703) 699-1420.

Memorial Day

 

The story of this photograph is here.

Social Media and Memorial Day

USA Today reports:

Memorial Day is not just unforgettable: Thanks to Facebook it's also inescapable.

Salutes to troops past and present will be showing up every few seconds, this weekend, if the pace of posting is anything like Memorial Day 2011. Experts and everyday Facebook users say the social media Goliath has rearranged our thinking of how to mark this and every other holiday.

... 

Few Americans still mark the original way to celebrate Memorial Day with a visit to a veteran's grave. TheDepartment of Veterans Affairs predicts more than 100,000 visitors to National Cemeteries this Monday, about the same as 2011. But there are 117 events for real time visits listed on the National Cemeteries Facebook Page, which has 3,389 likes.

Social media aren't necessarily to blame for the shift in observance. Given the mobile society, few people live near their own loved ones' graves any more.

Kate Pitrone writes at First Things:

I have heard it said that if you do not have family, close family, serving in the military, then your attitude toward government, and especially U.S. involvement in war and military conflict, will be quite different from those of us in that position. On Memorial Day, theoretically, we come together as a nation to remember those who have been lost while performing military service. I do not quite see that grand unity nor believe it. Memorial Day means something different to me than it will to you, if you do not have close family in military service. I have two sons currently serving, as well as one son and a daughter-in-law who are veterans. For me and my house, Memorial Day is to honor others, but is really about what has not happened to us, but what we dread happening.

I do not say what we fear, because if we lived in that fear, we could not live. Memorial Day reminds me of what my sons might risk and what the children of other military parents face and fear. The Marine Corps social media folks sent us a wonderful speech made by Lieutenant General John Kelly, USMC, in February,of this year to Gold Star Families You will find it moving. As a military mother, I found it terrifying. 

The "Thank You Campaign"

Previous posts (2010 and 2011) have discussed Memorial Day. A release from the Thank You Campaign:

Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2012) Launching in honor of Memorial Day 2012, a unique social media campaign hopes to raise awareness of the sacrifices made by families who have lost loved ones that served in the military.

The #ThankYouCampaign is a joint effort by Special Ops Survivors and Military Families United. The goal of the campaign is to get people thinking about the real meaning of Memorial Day and make the topic a top trend on Twitter and other social media, as well as around the picnic tables this holiday weekend.

“Memorial Day is not about mattress sales and cook-outs,” says Hannah Gregory, campaign spokesperson. “We are working to remind people what Memorial Day is all about and that while they are enjoying the company of their families, there are many military families who are handling the loss of a loved one that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.”

Taking part in the campaign is simple. People are asked to take their own “Thank You” photo which can be as simple as holding a sign that says “Thank You” or something more creative to show their support and their personalities. Photos can then be “Tweeted” with the hashtag #ThankYouCampaignor they can be posted to the campaign’s Facebook page. More information and printable thank you signs and coloring sheets are available on the campaign’s website athttp://www.ThankYouCampaign.org.

Celebrities and public figures are also being urged to join the campaign and say “Thank You” to the families of fallen military heroes.

The campaign is being launched in time for the upcoming Memorial Day, but the #ThankYouCampaignwill be an ongoing effort “because every day should be a day we remember the families of our fallen military heroes and the sacrifices they made for us,” says Gregory.

Military Families United and Special Ops Survivors have joined efforts to launch the campaign but will be looking for additional nonprofit organizations that serve the families of the fallen and want to join as campaign partners.

“Military Families United is proud to be partnering with the other organizations in the Thank You Campaign to show our united support for families of the fallen,” says Bob Jackson, executive director. “Through this combined effort we can not only remind the public of the sacrifices of these families, but provide the opportunity for all American’s to honor our true Heroes.”

The campaign was created by SHOESTRING (the nonprofit’s agency) as a public service.
To learn more and join the campaign, go to ThankYouCampaign.org.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, issues of religion and civic culture come to the fore. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers various symbols of belief for government headstones and markers. They include one for atheists:

The Department of Veterans Affairs offers a brief history of Memorial Day:

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.

Local Observances Claim To Be First Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.

Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried.

Official Birthplace Declared In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.

By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.

It was not until after World War I, however, that 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.