all VETERANS ARE NOT Treated Fairly

 Why aren't ALL Veterans who served in ANY WAR, given the same opportunities?

ALL Veterans are NOT TREATED EQUAL!

There are more benefits and programs for Veterans who served AFTER the Vietnam War!

  ANY WAR AFTER  Dessert Storm  or Iraq something is available for them.
SO UNFAIR!


 A TV station in Chicago once reported that Gen. John Logan was the founder of Memorial Day.  


That isn't true.

Gen. John Logan is usually given credit for starting Memorial Day. This is incorrect. Logan's proclamation was issued in 1868. However, the first observance of "Decoration Day", what it was originally called, took place in 1865 in Charleston S. C. and was done by freed slaves,  three years prior to Logan's action.

On a Monday morning in the spring of 1865, thousands of  former enslaved people marched onto the grounds of the old Washington Race Course, now Hampton Park, where wealthy Charleston planters and socialites had gathered in old times. During the final year of the war, the track had been turned into a prison camp. Hundreds of Union soldiers died there.

For two weeks in April, former slaves had worked to bury the soldiers. Now they would give them a proper funeral.

The procession began at 9 a.m. as 2,800 black school children marched by their graves, softly singing "John Brown's Body."

The exercise on May 1, the Charleston Daily Courier reported, began with the reading of a Psalm. The crowd sang a hymn, then prayed. Everyone in the procession carried a bouquet of flowers.

The children strew flowers on the graves as they walked past. After "John Brown's Body," they sang "The Star Spangled Banner," "America" and "Rally Round the Flag." By the end, the graves looked like a massive mound of rose petals.

These

former enslaved people were joined by several Union regiments, including the 104th and 35th "colored regiments," as well as the famous 54th Massachusetts. These companies marched around the graves in solemn salute. 

Soon, their voices would give way to the sermons of preachers, then prayer and - later - picnics. It was May 1, 1865, but they called it Decoration Day.

On that day, former enslaved people of Charleston started a tradition that would come to be known as Memorial Day.

For years, the ceremony was largely forgotten.

It had been mentioned in some history books, including Robert Rosen's "Confederate Charleston," but the story gained national attention when David W. Blight, a professor of American history at Yale, took interest. He discovered a mention of the first Decoration Day in the un-cataloged writings of a Union soldier at a Harvard University library.

 

A few years ago, the city of Charleston and the state approved plans for a historical marker in Hampton Park to honor the first Dedication Day. Blight has said the site is perhaps even worthy of National Park status.

Harlan Greene, director of archival and reference services at Avery, said the time is right; Charleston has begun to recognize its African-American history.

"We're approaching a tipping point," Greene said. "The irony of the story is that Charleston is the cradle of the Confederacy, but the memorial was for Union soldiers. It shows the richness of Charleston history."

Who we honor on Memorial Day:

Memorial Day is the time we honor those members of the Armed Forces who are deceased whether or not death was a result of combat with a hostile nation. It should be a day of somber remembrance.

Memorial Day is not a day to honor those members of the Armed Forces who are currently on active-duty nor is it a day to thank veterans for their service. That is what Armed Forces Day and Veterans Day are for.
Those currently serving in the military are honored on Armed Forces Day.

It is also incorrect to say "soldiers" when referring to all members of the Armed Services. "Soldiers" are members of the Army or Army National Guard. Naval personnel are "Sailors" and submariners (pronounced "sub-mare-n-er), the Marine Corps is part of the Navy and they are called "Marines". Air Force personnel are "Airmen" irrespective of gender. Members of the Coast Guard are called "Coast Guardsmen" irrespective of gender. It would be appropriate to use the term "military personnel" or "members of the Armed Forces".

The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the

Vietnam war with the names, bio's and other information on

our lost heroes.  Those who remember that time frame, or

perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site. 

 

Names of Vietnam War casualties by city and state www.VirtualWall.org

Kirkland Burke