God bless all who have served, all who have lost loved ones in the service of their country, and those who are serving now.
Randy

This is their day, They deserve our love and respect for all the hardships they have endured and continue to endure to keep us free.

Lee L.

This is their day, They deserve our love and respect for all the hardships they have endured and continue to endure to keep us free.

Lee L.

Thank both the living and the dead for their bravery.

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Ignore this history lesson if you desire:Probably comes from putting four family members or close froends in the ground this year

The day was created by General John Logan in 1868. IT was specifically designed for honoring the Union dead and as such didn't catch on in the deep South quickly. Makes sense, as worded it was for honoring those who fell in defence and preservation of the union...that would include southerners from before and after the civil war, but those fighting in rebellion were specifically excluded.

Guess it should exlcude the fighters at the Alamao and other battles for Texas independence as well as it was worded...have to ask a Texan.

Took grave rites pretty seriously back then (and we still do), and to exclude the dead from a recognized holiday wasn't taken all that well....have one Yankee who fought for the south, but wanted to be burried in Yankee soil...so they moved a few tons of yankee soil down here and planted him in that.

Took some years and two wars for the hard-core south to have enough of it's own Union-fighting dead to honor; by the post WWI era Memorial Day was pretty well recognizied...still not recognized enough to make it a school holiday even in 2005, but recognized.

Were (are) alternative days for homoring the CSA dead...various days depending on state (Lousiana is June 3rd., Va. is May 30th, others April 29th, still others May 10th). Even this old tradtion is still obsereved in many places.

Are graves here of British forces...War of 1912...but the grave site has never been found (Mississippi shifted), some Spanish and French soldiers (from the 1700's), and even a few German POW's got left behind (mostly from the African theater). Some one, or some group, sees to it that their grave sites are cared for....I take care of the crypt next to my father's, even though it hasn't been used in 60years and the names are all Czech, and on the off chance that once or two of them were a vet., they get flowers on this day as well.

When my father-in-law passed away, had the military honor guard for his service in WWII...that his grave rests next to a CSA Captain doesn't seem to bother anyone in this area...perhaps it would bother northeners more.
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Long as I've gone on this long, may as well go on farther:

The tombs down where...those above ground crypts and memorials...are family tombs. Being below sea level, you can guess why tradtional graves weren't nomrally used. These tombs get resused. Will find 15 - 30 names on the door, and all of them are in there . Is an area behind the platform where the coffin lies, a pit, in old times called an osstuiary, where the bones/dust of the previous occupant are placed to make room for the new occupant. After a year and a day (and why that amount of time is anyone's guess) the crypt can be reused.

Sometimes the next in line dies early...so we borrow a crypt, wait the time needed, and move the body once it's allowedf/

Family boght that crypt in 1821 for the outrageous sum of $12.57 which included perpetual care...the contract still holds.

i hope you mean the war of 1812.
other wise my history is all screwd up.

i hope you mean the war of 1812.
other wise my history is all screwd up.

Yep..make that an 1812 rather than that 1912...not known for talented typing.

The fall of the Alamo is just about a holiday in itself, here....

Nice writeup.