MEMORIAL DAY

            Once known as “Decoration Day,” the United States Congress in 1971 renamed this holiday as “Memorial Day” to commemorate the death of those who died in service to our country.  But it was May 5, 1868 following the Civil War (more accurately better known as the War Between the States), that Union General John Logan designated the custom of decorating the graves of fallen comrades on May 30. However in 1971 the United States Congress changed the date of the celebration to the last Monday of May.

            But what sparked the celebration to take national hold came about shortly after the turn of the 20^th century.

            It was the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the year 1918 when the guns of the First World War fell silent. After four years of horrendous fighting with the loss of over 37,466,904 souls on both side of the conflict, peace was declared. Germany and its allies surrendered to the forces of the United States, France and England and other European nations that were drawn into the conflict, in a small trolley car in Paris. Officially the war ended.

            The principal countries involved in the conflict were Germany, France and England. Some 12 nations were pulled into the war as allies but it wasn’t until 1917 that the United States became ensnarled thanks to the then president Woodrow Wilson.

Known as the “Great War,” it was believed mankind would never again subject itself to another senseless conflict. Peace was to be everlasting but it was only 21 years later when a   former German corporal of WWI, named Adolph Hitler, would again challenge the world. What caused the rise of this maniac were the sufferings of Germany at the conclusion of the

First World War.

The penalties and hardships imposed on the conquered enemy by the surrender nearly destroyed the German economy and any hope of recovery. Germany would be nothing but a third world country it was deemed by the victorious nations. The result was that inflation and unemployment rose to the point that it was joked one would have to take a wheelbarrow of money to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread. But Hitler changed all of that.

He was deemed a genius. But how he accomplished this remarkable recovery didn’t surface until the outbreak of what was to be the Second World War.

As part of the recovery Hitler set about first rebuilding his military—against the provisions of the articles Germany signed at the surrender following WWI. He enlisted the help of other men who had similar aspirations and went about building an army of unimaginable size for its time. To maintain order he assassinated rivals, commenced liquidating other “enemies of the state,” notably the Jews, and marched on smaller countries as Poland. While all of this was going on European countries as France, England and also across the Atlantic, the United States, sat back pacifically ignoring what was about to overtake the world.

Finally Hitler went too far and France and England declared war against Germany. And that was all Hitler needed. Storming through the Ardennes forest, German tanks outflanked the French entrenchments and in a matter of days France fell.

From there the German forces moved up to the northern countries as Sweden and Norway, the Netherlands and finally making his greatest mistake, Russia.

During this time the United States was tacitly helping the English furnishing goods which later developed into the famed “Lend Lease Program.”

Then came December 7, 1941.

On Sunday, at 7 a.m., Honolulu Hawaii time, Japanese airplanes swooshed down unleashing bombs and torpedoes on the United States naval fleet harbored at Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack that killed over 2,000 American sailors, soldiers and airmen. The attack came as a complete surprise and most of the navy ships were resting on the bottom of the harbor.

Then on December 11, Hitler declared war on the United States and for the next five years the world was ablaze. Now America was fighting a two front war—the Japanese and Germany.

Americans were not interested in fighting any wars. But it was President Franklin Roosevelt who pushed the Japanese to the point that it was a question of survival that they would strike. Roosevelt had cut off sending scrap iron and oil to the Japanese in opposition to their invasion of Manchuria and China. The military arm of Japan decided that they could defeat the United States and force America to sue for peace. But America being America it was folly idea. As a result Americans fought on both fronts and through courage and dedication of American youth both Japan and Germany were defeated. But defeat came at a horrendous price.

After dropping two atomic bombs the Japanese finally surrendered. Germany had been defeated a few months earlier and now it was time to rebuild a ravaged world.

In France there are many military cemeteries and like here in the United States, graves are showered with wreaths and flowers in memory of those who died. Their headstones glisten under the brightness of the sun. The sky in its beauty of blue expresses a comfort for those who slumber under the green grass of earth. For them there is no memory of home or family but only eternal peace.