Tony Thurmond: “this coming Monday, May 26, our Nation will observe Memorial Day. For some Americans, Memorial Day is simply the opening…”

“this coming Monday, May 26, our Nation will observe Memorial Day. For some Americans, Memorial Day is simply the opening of the summer vacation season. However, for millions of patriotic Americans this day is much more. To us, Memorial Day is the day we pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending this Nation and our freedoms. Honoring those who died in war is a practice and custom of many cultures and countries. In the United States, tributes to fallen soldiers took place in many locations during the War Between the States. An early observance occurred on May 30, 1865, in Charleston, SC, when a group of school children scattered flowers over trenches in which the remains of several hundred Union soldiers had been interred. Another commemoration occurred in Columbus, MS, on 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. Flowers were placed on the nearby bare and neglected graves of Union soldiers as well. Throughout the North and South, this practice of decorating graves became more widespread.”