Meredith speaker recounts history of Memorial Day

By ROGER AMSDEN, for THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

MEREDITH — World War II and Korean War veteran Master Sgt. Elliott Finn thanked Bob Kennelly, former commander of the Griggs-Wyatt American Legion Post 33, for his role over the last decade in organizing Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies in Meredith.

He said that Kennelly has stepped aside from his lead role in organizing the events to give younger veterans the opportunity to lead and deserves the gratitude of all for his efforts,

Finn thanked those who had turned out on a damp and chilly morning to take part in the ceremonies. “Your presence here is a true expression of Memorial Day, showing support for the ideas and values these soldiers died defending. We owe them all a debt of gratitude and we start paying that debt by remembering them and what they stood for,” said Finn.

Noting that the day is set aside to honor ''the thousands of Americans who answered the last roll call," Finn said that formerly known as Decoration Day, the holiday originated after the Civil War to remember the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in that war, the most deadly in American history, which claimed over 600,000 lives.

He said the origin of the practice of decorating the graves of soldiers who died in that war is traced by many historians back to Columbus, Mississippi, which was a hospital town, and in many cases a burial site, for both Union and Confederate casualties of Shiloh, brought in by the trainload. And it was in that city, where, at the initiation of four women who met in a 12-gabled house on North Fourth Street, a solemn procession was made to Friendship Cemetery on April 25, 1866.

As the story goes, one of the women spontaneously suggested that they decorate the graves of the Union as well as the Confederate dead, as each grave contained someone’s father, brother or son. A lawyer in Ithaca, New York, named Francis Miles Finch read about this reconciliatory gesture and wrote a poem about the ceremony in Columbus, “The Blue and the Gray,” which The Atlantic Monthly published in 1867.

Finn said that the first widely publicized observance of a Memorial Day-type observance after the Civil War was in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 1, 1865. During the war prisoners of war had been held at the Hampton Park Race Course, where at least 257 Union prisoners died and were hastily buried in unmarked graves. Together with teachers and missionaries, black residents of Charleston organized a May Day ceremony in 1865 which was covered by the New York Tribune and other national papers. The freedmen cleaned up and landscaped the burial ground, building an enclosure and an arch labeled 'Martyrs of the Race Course.' Nearly 10,000 people, mostly freedmen, gathered on May 1 to commemorate the war dead. Involved were about 3,000 school children, newly enrolled in freedmen's schools, as well as mutual aid societies, Union troops, black ministers and white northern missionaries. Most brought flowers to lay on the burial field.”

Originally known as Decoration Day, what would become Memorial Day was established as a national observance by General Josh Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1868.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

Former state Sen. Jeanie Forrester, now chair of the New Hampshire e Republican Party, also spoke, saying that it is important that future generation know the meaning of Memorial Day and the sacrifices previous generations have made to preserve freedom.

Former commander of the Griggs-Wyatt American Legion Post 33, Bob Kennelly, was thanked for his role over the last decade in organizing Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies in Meredith. (Roger Amsden/for The Laconia Daily Sun)

Color guard of the Griggs-Wyatt American Legion Post 33 led the Memorial Day parade in Meredith. (Roger Amsden/for The Laconia Daily Sun)

World War II and Korean War veteran Master Sgt. Elliott Finn recounted the history of Memorial Day as he spoke in front of the town library during Monday's Memorial Day observance. (Roger Amsden/for The Laconia Daily Sun)