TAKE TIME TO HONOR VETERANS ON MEMORIAL DAY

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, one of the most sacred and important of all American holidays. Far from just another long weekend, this is the day set aside for all Americans to honor those who gave their lives in all our wars. The history of this holiday is a fascinating and quintessentially American story with origins during the Civil War.

In 1863, Southern ladies decorating the graves of Confederate soldiers with flowers after the fall of Vicksburg didn't stop with their side: They decorated also the graves of Union dead. News of this touching gesture in the midst of so bitter a conflict spread through the country via newspaper accounts, and across the river from here, Gen. John A. Logan of the Union Army proclaimed that a day should be set aside to decorate the graves of all soldiers. Thus was born "Decoration Day," as it was known well into the middle of this century.

Since then it was established as a federal holiday first as May 30, and later as the last Monday in May, officially kicking off the summer season. There will be numerous ceremonies marking the occasion throughout the area. These tributes shouldn't be attended only by veterans and members of their families, but by all Americans, who should take special care to take their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews with them for the learning experience, as well.

The brave men and women who gave their lives for all our freedoms offered up what Abraham lincoln called, in the Gettysburgh Address, "the last full measure of devotion." We owe them no less than to keep the flame of their memory alive by saluting them on this day set aside for that solemn purpose. Here's to Memorial Day, properly and respectfully observed.