Decoration Day also known as...

Memorial Day here in the states....Originally, and a part of lost history , more or less...mostly lost is this:
   Memorial Day was started by former slaves on May, 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC to honor 257 dead Union Soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. They dug up the bodies and worked for 2 weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. They then held a parade of 10,000 people led by 2,800 Black children where they marched, sang and celebrated.


  
In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the grand Army of the Republic issued what was called General Order Number 11, designating May 30 as a memorial day. 


And then.....The preferred name for the holiday gradually changed from "Decoration Day" to "Memorial Day," which was first used in 1882. Memorial Day did not become the more common name until after World War II, and was not declared the official nameby Federal law until 1967.But in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971.


    Today we pay tribute to those who gave their lives to fight in sooo many wars for  an abundance of reasons....as a child we had a local small town parade and we would decorate our bikes with crepe paper and ride down to watch the parade....then as I grew older I sometimes walked in the parade as a girl scout and then in high school our band sometimes marched.  I believe in honoring those who gave their lives as some of my own family members have....I'm saddened when national leaders try to turn these holidays into ones glorifying war....war is awful and those I've known who returned alive from wars do not glorify their experiences.  My flower today stands for PEACE and is my ever hopeful wish for striving to find peace and say no to endless fruitless wars.  We have all lost far too many to war. 
    Saturday's blip here