PHOTOS: Remembering those who gave all in defense of freedom
Memorial Day was celebrated all across America last weekend with family gatherings, beach outings, road trips and pool parties but here in the Pahrump Valley, the real focus of the day did not go unacknowledged. Local veterans’ groups came together to commemorate the memories of those who gave their lives in service to their country, without whom all of that Memorial Day fun may not even be possible.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #10054 opened its Memorial Day celebration with a formal service beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 26, with veterans and supporters settling in underneath the pergola erected specially for such ceremonies. Guests were welcomed by post commander Mark Sansom and listened to remarks from other post officials before the culmination of the ceremony, the changing of the colors. With solemn pride, post members lowered the battered American flag that has flown above the post for the last year and replaced it with a brand-new banner, whose stars and stripes shine bright.
Following the ceremony, attendees were invited to continue their holiday with a barbecue lunch and a Flag Retirement Ceremony to bid a proper farewell to the VFW’s own worn flag, as well as many others no longer suited for display.
As the afternoon began to wane on Monday, the Disabled American Veterans Chapter #15 welcomed attendees to its Memorial Day Sunset Ceremony, hosted at the Pahrump Veterans’ Memorial inside the Chief Tecopa Cemetery. This observance featured guest speakers as well as several traditional military services, including the wreath ceremony, presentation of ID/Dog Tags representing the branches of the military and the powerfully emotional “Missing Man Table,” in which a table is laden with items symbolizing their absence and the love of those they are no longer with.
Do you know the history behind Memorial Day?
While Memorial Day has been celebrated on the last Monday in May since the 1970s, the original date selected for the holiday was May 30. Congress authorized the shifting of this observance, as well as certain others, to specific Mondays throughout the year, thereby creating three-day weekends for federal holidays.
Along the same lines, Memorial Day is not the original name for the observance, either. It was first known as Decoration 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 – established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Major General John A. Logan declared it should be May 30,” information from the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs explains. “It is believed the date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.”
It’s widely acknowledged that Logan’s directive was the starting point for this holiday, although there is some disagreement when it comes to just where Memorial Day did originate. Columbus, Mississippi and both Macon and Columbus, Georgia claim to have seen the first “Decoration Day,” as does Richmond, Virginia, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania and several others.
“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,” the VA reports.
All claims aside, in 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress declared Waterloo, New York, to be the official birthplace of Memorial Day. Following this, in 1971, Memorial Day’s date was changed through the Uniform Monday Holidays Act, which also made it a federal holiday.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
