Honoring the Fallen: America's Memorial Day Legacy
Freedom isn't free. This simple yet profound truth anchors our special Memorial Day episode as we explore the origins, evolution, and significance of this solemn American holiday that honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.
Did you know that approximately 43% of Americans, primarily younger generations, don't fully understand Memorial Day's origins? Beyond barbecues and beach trips marking summer's unofficial start lies a day born from the ashes of the Civil War, where an estimated 750,000 Americans perished fighting each other on home soil. We trace how this commemoration began in 1868 as "Decoration Day," when communities would adorn the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags, and how it gradually transformed into the national observance we know today.
Links and Resources from the Episode:
Click here for the Memorial Day tribute from Hillsdale College
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The Bosshole® Chronicles
“Honoring the Fallen: America’s Memorial Day Legacy”
Original Publish Date: 5/27/2025
Host: John Broer
John Broer: Welcome back to The Bosshole Chronicles everybody out there in The Bosshole Transformation Nation. It is Tuesday, May 27th if you're listening to this, on the day of its release, but I'm recording it on Memorial Day 2025. Just a little episode this week, just to show appreciation for the amazing holiday that we celebrate, Memorial Day. For the amazing holiday that we celebrate, Memorial Day.
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So if you're listening to this on Tuesday, May 27th, I just want to let you know I'm actually recording this on Monday, May 26th, 2025, which is Memorial Day here in the United States, and I wanted to do a special episode. I don't know if it's because I spent some time in Gettysburg a few weeks ago. For those of you that have been tracking and listening in the last month or so, I had the privilege of being part of a leadership development program in Gettysburg sponsored by one of our clients that uses the Battle of Gettysburg that happened in July of 1863 as a backdrop to leadership traits and leadership principles and the relationship of the generals both on the Confederacy and the Union sides. And it was fascinating I just caught up on this statistic within the last few days that roughly 43% of Americans, and the majority of that 43% are of a younger age, don't really understand the origin of Memorial Day.
You know, Memorial Day weekend ushers in the first part of summer. I mean it's not quite officially summer yet. People think of Memorial Day weekend, the three-day weekend, as time to get together. Some people take off, get out of town, extend their vacation because they have the day off, and that's great. That's wonderful. I mean it is a time to unplug, enjoy a long weekend. I know for us this weekend we got to go see our great nephew play baseball. We spent some time with our kids and their friends. I mean it was just an amazing time. But I never want to forget what this weekend is actually about.
So I thought, in lieu of talking about Bossholes and Bosshole Prevention, I just wanted to first off articulate my appreciation, my family's appreciation, for all the men and women that have served this great nation over the last almost 250 years in the armed forces. And, by the way, we've had some amazing people on The Bosshole Chronicles. And because I was in Gettysburg, I actually I never realized that it was actually after the Civil War that the origin of Memorial Day started. So I just wanted to walk through the years of our history and go back to the origin of Memorial Day, and it happened after the Civil War in the 1860s. And again, just to put things in perspective, the Civil War of course ran from 1861 to 1865. Now, that number was much higher because there were also civilian casualties, but those numbers can range anywhere from 600,000 to 750,000. I mean, just imagine the sheer number of people that lost their lives during that period of time of the Civil War.
Cemeteries started to decorate the graves of the fallen soldiers and they called it Decoration Day and apparently the first official observance. Union prisoners of war that were buried. Well, they were buried at a prison that was previously a racetrack and then they were exhumed and reburied properly and their graves were decorated, and this is oftentimes recognized as the precursor to Memorial Day. Now, the official start of Memorial Day was May 5th 1868. Now this was actually started by again based on my research by General John A Logan, who is the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, which was a union veterans organization, and they declared that May 30th was Decoration Day and the purpose of it was to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead. So May 30th was chosen, apparently because it wasn't tied to a specific battle and also that flowers would be in bloom to be able to decorate the graves. And so this is what people would do they would have speeches, they would gather at the graveyards and for both, you know, Union and Confederate soldiers, and they would decorate them. Now, it originated really in the states where the Civil War took place, mostly in the East, but of course, by the 1870s Decoration Day was observed in many of the northern states and some of the southern states held a separate commemoration for the Confederate dead, for the Confederate dead. But the state of New York, in 1873, became the first state to officially recognize Decoration Day as a holiday and setting a precedent for the other states.
So move into the early 20th century and World War I takes place. After World War I, which took place between 1914 and 1918, the holiday expanded to honor all Americans killed in all wars, not just the Civil War. Memorial Day eventually gradually replaced Decoration Day, reflecting a broader scope, but it wasn't until 1967 that Memorial Day became the official federal name under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. You know, going from the late 20th century to present day, in 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved Memorial Day from May 30th to the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend. And apparently it was a matter of some debate because they felt that it, by just sort of tagging it onto a weekend, it sort of made it, it diluted the reverence and the solemnity that was, you know, felt and what Decoration Day and Memorial Day was what it was all about.
And I think, of course, over time I mean, as we moved past many of the wars that we've had and fewer and fewer people served or we had fewer veterans to tell the stories of the battles that Memorial Day weekend there's still parades. We still have our flags and our colors showing out there. I know our flag is always out, but the thing is is that it's become a little bit faded in terms of understanding the gravity and what it actually means and one of the distinctions of Memorial Day. Of course, Memorial Day specifically honors those who died in military service, distinguishing it from Veterans Day, which honors all veterans, it from Veterans Day, which honors all veterans, and Armed Forces Day for active duty members. So there's a real distinction there. Memorial Day is a time for us to pause and pray and reflect and certainly give thanks to the over 1 million men and women that have given their lives in the cause of freedom, in order to really understand the magnitude of that sacrifice.
I went back and I was saying, okay, since the Revolutionary War, and realizing that a lot of these numbers are estimates because they didn't keep as accurate records back at the founding of our country in the colonial days and then, you know, upon our declaration of independence. But I wanted to get an estimate of how many men and women have died in the service of the United States. And, granted, I know a lot of people don't like to talk about war. I mean, any time we can avoid military conflict is a good thing and, at the same time, our unique freedoms, the truly exceptional nature and characteristics of the United States has been paid for by the blood of patriots and men and women that have sacrificed. So what does that number actually look like? So between and I think there were about 12, the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War because up to that time, Revolutionary War, the estimates are around 25,000, War of 1812, 15,000, Mexican-American War slightly over 13,000. But then the Civil War 750,000. So anywhere between 600 and 750,000 in that short amount of time, right here in the United States. Then you went through the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, post 9-11 wars, Afghanistan, other conflicts. The estimated total is 1.4 million lives, 1.4 million souls.
That on this day, we pause and reflect and give thanks for the ultimate sacrifice that we live in a nation where our freedoms and our liberties sometimes are taken for granted and perhaps not fully appreciated or, at the very least, acknowledged that they do not come cheaply. This is also a fraction of all the men and women that have served over the years. And so today, on Memorial Day 2025, upon reflection and just having a chance to go back and walk the battlefield at Gettysburg and realize that even in Gettysburg, just Gettysburg alone, in those three days, 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers died in that battle. This day again is established and set aside to memorialize and recognize the sacrifices that they made. And then, of course, the over 1 million that have done it in all of the conflicts in the name of the United States. And also, when I think about the families too, the families that have sacrificed, the wives, the husbands, the children, brothers and sisters, moms and dads that have lost their kids, unfathomable to most of us. And yet we are the beneficiaries, we are the ones that get to live in a nation, a unique and wholly different type of country, where those freedoms and those liberties are available to us all.
Today, as we usher in, you know, officially summer, and I do hope you had an amazing time this past weekend with family and friends, and I also hope you took a moment to reflect on why we have Memorial Day and maybe even through this episode, you have a little bit more context of its origin, the magnitude of the sacrifice that was made so that we can enjoy the freedoms and liberties in our amazing country. And one thing I would point to I don't think it's by accident. I don't believe in accidents. I think God has a plan in all things and he works around us in so many different ways. But as I was getting ready to record this, I received an email from Hillsdale College and they published this.
It's a video just about Memorial Day and it's absolutely beautiful. I'm going to put it in the show notes. I would encourage you to go watch it. It starts out with an address from President Ronald Reagan and is concluded by the final words that Abraham Lincoln spoke in Gettysburg during his Gettysburg Address, and I actually, just a couple of weeks ago, stood in the exact spot where he delivered those words. It's stirring, it's amazing, it's unique and it is something of which we can be proud.
Again, thank our men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and thank all of our members that are currently in the armed forces and all of our veterans. God's blessing on all of you and your families and we will see you next time on the Bosshole Chronicles. And we will see you next time on the Bosshole Chronicles. Thanks very much for checking out this episode of the Bosshole Chronicles. It was so good to have you here and if you have your own Bosshole story that you want to share with the Bosshole Transformation Nation, just reach out. You can email us at mystory@thebossholechronicles.com. Again, mystory@thebossholechronicles.com. We'll see you next time.