Neal Pollard
Neil Hanson conceived an intriguing book idea and the end result he describes in its introduction:
They are of different nationalities, backgrounds, personalities, and
circumstances. They are not cliched stereotypes: Iowa farm-boys,
chirpy Cockneys, Prussians with bristling moustaches. They are
young men, barely beginning life’s journey, each with their own hopes,
fears, ambitions and dreams. Their tracks, faint as smoke in the wind,
intersect time and again, but they are united only in death, for each
was killed on the Somme, within gunshot sound of each other, and
each–like 3 million of their fellows–has no known grave. They
disappeared as completely as if they had “gone through a mirror,
leaving only a diminishing shadow.” No trace remained; the war had
claimed even their names. Their story is the story of the Unknown
Soldiers” (Unknown Soldiers, xiv-xv).
Hanson chose German Paul Hub, Briton Alec Reader, and American George Seibold. Somehow, it becomes more gripping when these “unknowns” have a name. Eventually, many of the countries involved in World War I had organized tributes to those who died without proper burial and consecrated tombs to symbolized all those brave, but anonymous, soldiers who fell in war.
General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, a post-war organization of veterans, decreed General Order No. 11. It read,
The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing the flowers,
or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their
country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city,
village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of
ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange
such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit
(www.history.com/topics/memorial-day-history).
Known originally as Decoration Day, Memorial Day grew out of the respectful desire to honor the dead by maintaining and sprucing up the headstones of those who fell in combat.
As time passes, fewer people are aware of the roots of this holiday and people in fewer numbers turn out to graveyards and cemeteries to perform these tasks. The sacrifices of our war dead can come to be taken for granted and forgotten. This is tragic, whether we know the name of the soldier whose remains are interred in that grave or not. They have given the ultimate to preserve our freedoms, rights, and privileges. We are the ready recipients of such blessings, and it is fitting for us to remember these heroes.
Somewhere in Palestine, and many have tried to pinpoint rocks and caves as the precise spot, there is the tomb that held Jesus from Friday night to Sunday morning. While Mary, Peter, John, and others visited that tomb, they found no dead to commemorate. Thus, there was no need to decorate or memorialize it. Instead, we memorialize the death, burial, and resurrection through the Lord’s Supper each Sunday. Christ’s sacrifice gives us every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3). We are saved because of what He gave (1 Tim. 2:4-5). May we never let the passage of time cause us to forget or neglect. May we ever honor and revere the Hero of Calvary.
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