Memorial Day tributes — even amid so much loss, this is why we honor our war dead

Memorial Day is the most solemn of our national holidays. It is meant to be a time for Americans to remember, with appropriate displays of gratitude and honor, those who have died while fighting our country’s wars.

We must be especially careful this year, in the absence of large public gatherings, and amid all the fears, frustrations and losses from the global pandemic, that the true meaning of this national holiday not be lost.

The grievous trials of the past three months cannot be allowed to diminish the realization of how blessed we have been by the willingness of every generation of Americans thus far to risk everything dear to them to preserve the precious gift of freedom. Indeed, if we allow ourselves genuinely to remember this all-important fact, the most unusual circumstances of Memorial Day 2020 might even enhance its meaning.

The first observance of this holiday, originally known as “Decoration Day” because it called for the placement of flowers on the graves of the war dead, came in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. We still observe this particular ritual, but also remember the dead with parades, and with ceremonies and commemorative addresses at national cemeteries or battlefield shrines attended by hundreds and sometimes many thousands of people.