The custom of placing flowers on graves is ancient. The Greeks placed flowers on new graves, believing that if the flowers took root and blossomed, the soul of the dead person had found happiness. The Romans had a festival in early spring, when the burial places of their honored ancestors were decorated with violets and roses. Whatever the flower, wherever the grave, it has always seemed both appropriate and natural to honor the dead with fresh flowers.

Memorial Day, which we celebrate on May 30, has come to mark the beginning of summer. According to dictators of fashion, it marks the time when people are allowed to start wearing linen, and white shoes. But to many people, particularly to the thousands of veterans who have served their country, this day is a solemn reminder of those who fell in battle. It is the day on which the United States honors its glorious dead, and its history stretches back all the way to the Civil War.

In the spring of 1866, Henry C. Welles, a pharmacist dwelling in the village of Waterloo, NY, suggested to the Seneca County Clerk, General John Murray, that a special day should be set aside to honor the patriotic dead of the Civil War. General Murray agreed, and the townspeople adopted the idea with enthusiasm. They made bouquets, wreaths and floral crosses, and set them on each veteran's grave. They decorated the village with evergreen boughs and black mourning streamers, and set the flags at half mast. General Murray and a man of the cloth led a solemn procession to the three local cemeteries. At each, open air ceremonies were held. This day, set aside to honor the fallen, became an annual tradition in Waterloo. And the tradition spread.

The first official recognition of this observance was issued by General John A. Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. General Order No. 11, issued on May 5, 1868, marks the establishment of “Decoration Day,” as it was then known. The date of the festival was set on May 30.

“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.”

On that first celebration of Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 celebrants decorated the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery. In cities, towns, and villages all over the country, similar ceremonies were held. Some were magnificent, some were modest, but all were heartfelt.

In 1882 the name was changed to Memorial Day, and soldiers who had died in other wars were also honored. In 1971 Memorial Day was declared a national holiday, to be held on the last Monday in May. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, veterans’ organizations, patriotic groups, and some senators and congressman too began to feel that the nation was losing sight of the original solemn meaning of this annual holiday. In recent years, with the terrors of 9/11 and the tragic losses of life in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have seen a nationwide revival of Memorial Day ceremonies to honor those who have died in combat.