Memorial Day
They dug up the bodies and worked for 2 weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. They then held a parade of 10,000 people led by 2,800 Black children where they marched, sang and celebrated.
Thanks to all of the brave men and women in our nation’s armed services.
(HT Joe Braxton)
God bless you Sgt. Griffin for training my son , leading him, and giving your life for his platoon. You are an honorable man worthy of my praise. One day soon we will meet and I can hug you and thank you.
Yes, it was indeed the earliest Memorial Day on record. The holiday was to go through several transformations- mostly between North & South before the national version we know now was finally formalized by Pres. Johnson in the 70s.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/memorial-day-civil-war-slavery-charleston
I called and wished my buddy a Happy Memorial Day, “even though you’re still alive.” He chuckled and thanked me. He’s a veteran of Haiti (where they carried weapons with no ammo), Kosovo, Iraq (2 tours) and Afghanistan (1.5 tours). The last one is the deployment that seemed to really affect him. He was different for a while, similar to the feeling I got from my ex’s cousin after he did a few years in a state prison. Both seemed to “normalize” after a while. He recently was called up to go to Africa, but couldn’t say much or even where it was because it was classified. He made it back ok.