That These Dead Shall Not Have Died in Vain

It’s difficult for me to think of Memorial Day without Abraham Lincoln coming to mind. The first “Memorial Days,” then called “Decoration Days,” arose shortly after the Civil War ended to honor the Union’s war dead. The celebration held on May 5, 1866, in Waterloo, New York, is often credited with being the first official Memorial Day commemoration.

There are different ways on Memorial Day to honor those American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms. There are different ways to remember them with proper expressions of reverence and gratitude.

While Lincoln at Gettysburg spoke at a particular time in a particular place on what soon became hallowed ground, the words he spoke that day transcend time and place. Recall the ending of his Gettysburg Address, which, for me, always has seemed especially fitting on Memorial Day:

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.

Sandwiched between the crowning of the newest American Idol and the first trip to the beach or first backyard barbeque, it is all too easy to forget Memorial Day’s true meaning. But we shouldn’t.

This Memorial Day, and not only on this day, let us remember all those who have shed their blood fighting under America’s flag, and, as Lincoln declared at Gettysburg, “resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”

So that they shall not have died in vain. Without compromising on matters of fundamental principle, and considering the common bonds that bind us together, it should be possible for Americans of all political or philosophical persuasions to seek common ground in the never-ending effort, as the Constitution’s Preamble has it:

to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

Many years ago, while walking on the boardwalk at Ocean City, New Jersey, early one Memorial Day morning, I happened upon a flag-raising ceremony. The Star-Spangled Banner blared from the boardwalk’s loudspeakers. Everyone had come to a stop while Old Glory was raised.

Then, after the last line—“O’er the land of the free and home of the brave”—without missing a beat, Lee Greenwood’s anthem—“God Bless the U.S.A.”—began. Still, few on the boardwalk moved.

This is part of the refrain you probably know:

And I’m proud to be an American

Where at least I know I’m free

And I won’t forget the men who died

Who gave that right to me . . .

On this Memorial Day, if we pause to remember the sacrifices of those “who gave that right to me,” we will be more likely to appreciate, and to embrace, those ideals that we share in common as Americans and that should bind us together.

My past Memorial Day messages are here: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.