Decoration Day
The Memorial Day National Holiday (last Monday of May) was originally named "Decoration Day" for the
decorations layed at the graves of Confederate Civil War dead. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed
on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his
General Order No. 11, and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of
Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
President Abraham Lincoln was asked to speak on November 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: “as Chief
Executive of the Nation, [to] formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate
remarks.” The President spoke for only 2 minutes, following renouned orator Edward Everett, who spoke for
2 hours.
The "few approptiate remarks" spoken by President Lincoln is perhaps the most famous speech ever given by
any U.S. President.
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
America's fighting forces have never been occupiers of defeated nations.
Our brave military men and women have defeated facism, national socialism,
communism and despotism. The only foreign land that our military occupies
today are the cemetaries where they are buried. It is fitting to honor them all.
The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne, France.
A total of 2,289 of U.S. Military dead are buried here.
The American Cemetery at Ardennes, Belgium.
A total of 5,329 U.S. Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Brittany, France.
A total of 4,410 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Brookwood, England.
468 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Cambridge, England.
3,812 American Military Personnel are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Epinal, France.
5,525 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Flanders Field, Belgium.
368 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Florence, Italy.
4,402 American Military Personnel are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium.
7,992 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Lorraine, France.
10,489 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
5,076 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in Meuse-Argonne, France.
14,246 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary in the Netherlands.
A total of 8,301 American Military Personel are buried here.
The American Cemetary at Normandy, France.
A total of 9,387 American Servicemen are buried here.
The American Cemetary at Oise-Aisne, France.
A total of 6,012 U.S. Military personel are buried here.
The American Cemetary, Rhone, France.
A total of 861 of our fallen Military Personel are buried here.
The U.S. Military Cemetary, Sicily, Italy.
A total of 7,861 of our military dead are buried here.
The American Cemetary at Somme, France.
A total of 1,844 U.S. Military Personel are buried here.
The U.S. Cemetary at St. Mihiel, France.
A total of 4,153 U.S. Servicemen are buried here.
The U.S. Military Cemetary at Suresnes, France.
A total of 1,541 American Military Personel are buried here.
We need apologize to NO ONE for freeing millions who were enslaved by repressive governments.
The sacrifice of American troops has freed more people than all other governments combined.
