"Overhaul" rather than "Dispose" those things in need of repair that are important in life... Winston Creel

Visiting Rotarians Ron Newell and Dick Boyle-Fullerton South.  

Announcements:
> Demotion night is June 25
> 3 families needed to house exchange students this summer June 20-21
> Roeslva Sattler is recovering from surgery.

Lost and found: The Service Award Book that Prez Mike offered for inspection has disappeared and should be returned. If someone picked it up, please return or Mike will have to explain to Rotary International why he gave away the only copy he had!

Burnie Dunlap's wonderful Memorial Day talk

Memorial Day was originally called decoration day. It seems to have begun with southern ladies decorating the graves of the Confederate dead with flowers before the end of the Civil War. Three years after the Civil War ended, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, General John Logan, issued General Order 112 on the fifth of May, 1868 that stated in part, "Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains. Let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; Let us in solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the nations gratitude." This was the order establishing May 30^th as Memorial Day.

At this time flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The south refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I, when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.

In 1915 Moina Michael wrote her poem that said:

We cherish too, the poppy red that grows on fields where valor led, It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war.

Since 1950 on the Thursday before Memorial Day the 3^rd Infantry placed small flags on the 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. Since 1998 on the Saturday before Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle on each of the 15,300 grave sites at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The Celebration moved from May 30^th to the last Monday in May in 1971 due to the National Holiday Act.

Many Americans may have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. This is when all Americans should join together to remember the sacrifices of those who answered their nationns call. It is far too easy to take for granted the freedoms we enjoy. These freedoms were paid for with the lives of others, few of us actually knew. President Lincolnns words, those who "Gave the last full measure of devotion".

The true meaning of Memorial Day can become lost, distant, or simply considered a 3-day weekend. It is our sacred duty to keep the legacy of our nation's patriots forever fresh in the memories of future generations. Memorial Day is moment for us to rededicate ourselves to our country and to America's living veterans and their families in the memory of the sacrifices they and others have made. To properly honor our dead, we must honor our living. On this hallowed day we must all remember that freedom, and the blessing it brings, often exact the ultimate sacrifice. Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said in part the following at an address for Memorial Day; Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death. Of life to which in their youth they lentthe passion and joy of the spring. As I listen, the great chorus of life begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will."

To our men and women in uniform past, present and future, God bless you.