Milford chronicle., 1953-05-29
TO KEEP OUR NATION GREAT
AND FREE


group OF women of Southern town went out
one day to decorate the graves of their men
who had died for "The Lost Cause"
AS they paid that tribute they found some
graVeS-OH to one side, peThaps-Of num-
Der OF Union soldiers, and they proceeded,
gently, to place flowers upon them, too
This was, in spirit, the first Memorial
Day 1t was, at any rate, forecast of that
reunitcati0n of the United States which,
after much slowly receding bitterness and
many difficulties, produced that unity in
America on which the greatness of our Ma
tion today rests.
The kindly act of those Southern women
attracted attention 1t spread and inspired
General John A. Logan to propose an annual
Decoration Day" for the heroes of 1861 1-65
which has since come to be known as
Memorial Day."
Ihls beautiful observance, as it applies
TO honOrlng and remembering our soldier
dead, IS OF course no longer confined to the
men of the Civil War. The same little fags
VIII be found over the last resting places of
soldiers who served under Washington: in
the War of 1872, the Mexican conflict. the
Spanish-American War.
And-mOre significantly for us in this
Time OF dangerous world tenSiOns-the FLAG
markers will fiutter above men who died in
the First and Second World Wars and in
Korea. -
slowly took form as a symbol of a Nation
that had preserved itself intact against the
peFlls of internal dissensiOns, must now al
ways remind Americans of theterrible strug-
giles we have undergone to maintain our coun-
try, with all its liberties, against vast and
terrible perils with which we must continue
to contend until dreams and hopes for peace
are realized
How shall we keep our country and all it
stands for safe, and win to those high goals?
While we honor those who have gone be-
yond us-Whether they fought on battlefelds
or were loved one who, happily, never saw
the carnage and horror of war-it should be
part of this day for us to add up the duties
Americans must perform to create a future
in which there may be wars no more.
Part of our great heritage, for most of
US, has been faith in God. We should resolve
to sustain that, always. From that source
comes the deeply rooted belief-again of most
Americans-in the principles of an ordered,
just individual liberty; in human dignity;
in the absolute rightneSs of decency, prObity
and faithfulness among men.
1t has become also we'll understood, amid
the perils of our time, that these things ought
to guide nations as well as men. We know,
only too well, that forces of Goddess tyranny
deny them and are arrayed against them.
Memorial Day therefore not only calls
upon us for hOnOrs to the brave andsthe good
OF the past, OUT Tor us 10 remember the dang
ers to our Nation and their generations they
fought so successfully. 1t should always be
asummOns to Americans Of every era to con-
front with the old courage and determination
every threat that rises before us.
The deadly evils of Communism stands
for only one of the modern menaces- with
which we have to deal. They are of such
magnitude that they require us to keep Am
erica strong, in armed defenses, without
how 4
the wiser courses and policies of our Govern
ment the times imperatively demand.
Above all this Memorial Day, and always,
Americans should heed its. unspoken remind
ers from the lives of millions who served to
build this great, liberty-loving Nation Our
, deeds and our courage must be as theirs.
TCZD(S&