May is a very important month for many of us.  As for me, it marks the beginning of the summer, we celebrate Memorial Day and it is the month of my birthday! 

Memorial Day brings a special meaning especially this year.  We are focused on our business, our jobs, the housing market, the financial market, the California economy; it is easy to overlook the significance of Memorial Day when other concerns seem more important at the time.  I was wondering about how Memorial Day began and found that the origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found over 24 centuries ago. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War that could be applied today to the 1.3 million Americans who have died in our nation's wars.

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of former Union soldiers and sailors - the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) - established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Major General John A. Logan declared it should be May 30. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery.  The cemetery already held the remains of 20,000 Union dead and several hundred Confederate dead.

The ceremonies centered on the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of General Robert E. Lee. General and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant and other Washington officials presided.  After speeches, children from the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.

Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave - a tradition followed at many national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.  This year, let us stop for a few minutes to honor those who have sacrificed and who have given life and limb on our behalf.

Please be safe this Holiday and thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Bob Conrey

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