Memorial Day honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending our nation. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and was instituted to honor all those who died in the Civil War, regardless of which side they fought, as part of the effort to heal our divided nation.
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars.
Almost 1.2 million men and women have sacrificed their lives serving our nation in the military. On this Memorial Day, we remember and give honor to all those brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives defending our freedom and way of life.
The First American Sacrifice. Crispus Attucks (1723 – 1770) is reported to be the first person killed in the American revolution during a conflict known as the Boston massacre. Mr. Attucks, whose father was believed to be of African descent and his mother of native American descent had been a slave but at the time was in the sea merchant trade. The unrest in the colonies against the British rule was growing in the 1760s.
The Stamp Act passed in 1765 required citizens of the American colonies to pay a tax on any printed materials including legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. The purpose of the stamp tax was to help pay for troops stationed in the American colonies, but the colonists believed that there was no need for the soldiers because there were no foreign enemies on the continent.
Then in 1767, the British passed the Townsend Acts, the purpose of which was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so that they would remain loyal to Great Britain. The colonists felt the growing weight of British taxation and rule from afar, and believed the heavy-handed burdens of British rule were unjust. In 1768, England sent British troops to Boston to attempt to quell the strife.
On March 5, 1770, a crowd of colonists confronted a sentry who had chastised a boy for complaining that a British officer did not pay a barber bill. A group of townspeople including Crispus Attucks, confronted a company of British soldiers. The colonists threw snowballs and debris at the soldiers. The confrontation escalated with the British soldiers opening fire on the townspeople. Attucks took two bullets in the chest and was the first to die.
A More Recent Story of Heroism. 19-year old Pfc Ross A. McGinnis was serving in Iraq in 2006 as the youngest soldier in Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment. He was on a mission in the Adhamiyah section of Baghdad along with four other soldiers in a military truck. McGinnis was manning the gunner’s hatch when an insurgent tossed a grenade from above. It flew past McGinnis and down through the hatch before lodging near the radio mount. His platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Cedric Thomas recalled what happened next. “Pfc. McGinnis yelled ‘Grenade…It’s in the truck,’” Thomas said. “I looked out of the corner of my eye as I was crouching down and I saw him pin it down.” The grenade exploded killing McGinnis, but his heroic action saved the lives of his four fellow soldiers. McGinnis did so even though he could have escaped. He had time to jump out of the truck, but he chose not to. He gave his life to save his crew and his platoon sergeant.
Jesus Act of Heroism. As we honor our fallen military this Memorial Day, it reminds us that Jesus also paid the ultimate price to save us. Jesus came into this world over 2,000 years ago for a rescue operation. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin are death and that due to our sin we are separated from God. The only way for us to be saved was for someone to pay the price for our sins, and Jesus stood in the gap to pay that price through his death on the cross.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” John 10: 11-18
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Prayer. Father, please comfort those families who have lost a loved one in military service to our country. Please give strength to those surviving parents, spouses and children, so that they know the honor their fallen loved one has demonstrated in the sacrifice is honored and respected by all Americans. Thank you also for sending Jesus to save us through his sacrifice, his death on the cross, so that we may have eternal life. I pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Have a blessed Memorial Day with family and friends.