Today is Memorial Day, and we at OurSeniors.net wish each of you a very happy holiday. Today, the 27th of May, the National Memorial Day Parade will be held in Washington DC. In many Florida locations, this will be seen on local TV (2PM Eastern time). If the broadcast is not available in your area, you can catch it live on YouTube at The 2019 National Memorial Day Parade – Live Stream. The link will probably be active for some time after.
Memorial Day observances have been held since the years following the Civil War. Hundreds of politicians, clergy and patriots have given speeches on this day, but the finest Memorial Day speech ever delivered may have been given before there even was such an observance. In November of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to speak at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery, a memorial to the soldiers who fought and died there. Lincoln delivered the greatest speech in American history, many think the greatest ever given in the English language. He summed up the meaning of Memorial Day in a few brief words.
“…We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract…
“…It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that 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.”
On this day, let us be grateful for their sacrifice!
