VOL. 123 - NO. 21 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, MAY 24, 2019 $.35 A COPY REMEMBERING OUR HEROES ON MEMORIAL DAY Reprinted from the U.S. Department of Veteran Afairs, www.VA.Gov/OPA/Speceven/memday Memorial Day, which is Gen. John A. Logan declared made their way through the cem- observed on the last Monday of that Decoration Day should be etery, strewing fl owers on both May, commemorates the men observed on May 30. It is believed Union and Confederate graves, and women who died while in the that date was chosen because reciting prayers and singing military service. In observance fl owers would be in bloom all hymns. of the holiday, many people over the country. Local Observances Claim visit cemeteries and memori- The first large observance To Be First Local springtime als, and volunteers often place was held that year at Arlington tributes to the Civil War dead American fl ags on each grave National Cemetery, across the already had been held in various site at national cemeteries. A Potomac River from Washington, places. One of the fi rst occurred national moment of remem- D.C. in Columbus, Miss., April 25, brance takes place at 3:00 The ceremonies centered 1866, when a group of women p.m. local time. around the mourning-draped visited a cemetery to decorate Memorial Day History veranda of the Arlington the graves of Confederate sol- Three years after the Civil War mansion, once the home of diers who had fallen in battle at ended, on May 5, 1868, the head Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of an organization of Union vet- Washington offi cials, including of Union soldiers, neglected erans — the Grand Army of the Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, because they were the enemy. Republic (GAR) — established presided over the ceremonies. Disturbed at the sight of the bare Decoration Day as a time for the After speeches, children from graves, the women placed some nation to decorate the graves of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan of their fl owers on those graves, the war dead with fl owers. Maj. Home and members of the GAR as well. Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birth- MONDAY place of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, News Briefs Ga., claim the title, as well MAY 27, 2019 by Sal Giarratani as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. Some States Have to honor those who die in war Here’s a Sad Note A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., Confederate Observances can be found in antiquity. The Did you know that 700,000 folks go bankrupt every cemetery carries the statement Many Southern states also have Athenian leader Pericles offered single year due to health care bills? We all know that that the first Decoration Day their own days for honoring the a tribute to the fallen heroes health care is issue number one, especially if you are ceremony took place there on Confederate dead. Mississippi of the Peloponnesian War over getting older or if you have a young family with children. April 29, 1866. Carbondale was celebrates Confederate Memorial 24 centuries ago that could be I know a 15-year-old girl whose grandmother took her the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Day on the last Monday of April, applied today to the 1.1 million to her heath care provider on a Friday and she was Approximately 25 places have Alabama on the fourth Monday Americans who have died in the told the possible ear infection would have to wait until been named in connection with of April, and Georgia on April 26. nation’s wars: “Not only are they Monday morning. See you then. Period! the origin of Memorial Day, many North and South Carolina observe commemorated by columns and Politicians all talk about health care issues in of them in the South where most it on May 10, Louisiana on June inscriptions, but there dwells generalities or in sound bites for the campaign trail. of the war dead were buried. 3 and Tennessee calls that date also an unwritten memorial of MEDICARE FOR ALL is the latest catch-word. We have Offi cial Birthplace Declared Confederate Decoration Day. them, graven not on stone but already gone through a major overhaul under President In 1966, Congress and President Texas celebrates Confederate in the hearts of men.” Obama and things still stink to high heaven. Lyndon Johnson declared Heroes Day January 19 and To ensure the sacrifices of We are the richest country in the world (or I hope we Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” Virginia calls the last Monday in America ’s fallen heroes are still are) but when it comes to health care, we are still of Memorial Day. There, a cer- May Confederate Memorial Day. never forgotten, in December on death’s bed. We can do better and would do better emony on May 5, 1866, honored Gen. Logan’s order for his 2000, the U.S. Congress passed if we could get all the crazy politics aside. local veterans who had fought in posts to decorate graves in 1868 and the president signed into Ending Poverty the Civil War. Businesses closed “with the choicest flowers of law “The National Moment of Back in 1956, many people believed that we had and residents fl ew fl ags at half- springtime” urged: “We should Remembrance Act,” P.L. 106- “probably come closer than any other society in history staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s guard their graves with sacred 579, creating the White House to abolish all poverty.” claim say earlier observances in vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths Commission on the National Last time I looked, we still have plenty of poverty other places were either informal, invite the coming and going Moment of Remembrance. amongst us. not community-wide or one-time of reverent visitors and fond The commission’s charter is to Are We in a Constitutional Crisis Yet? events. mourners. Let no neglect, no rav- “encourage the people of the By the end of the 19th century, ages of time, testify to the present United States to give something Recently after the Mueller Report hit the fl oor like a Memorial Day ceremonies were or to the coming generations that back to their country, which pro- piece of lead, Democrats on Capitol Hill were so sure being held on May 30 through- we have forgotten as a people vides them so much freedom and that Mueller would get President Trump. He didn’t. Not out the nation. State legislatures the cost of a free and undivided opportunity” by encouraging and looking good for Democrats! Not by a long shot. The passed proclamations desig- republic.” coordinating commemorations Democrats are still about resist and obstruct. The Three nating the day, and the Army The crowd attending the fi rst in the United States of Memorial Stooges; Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, and Richard Neal, and Navy adopted regulations Memorial Day ceremony at Day and the National Moment of chairs of House Judiciary, Intelligence and Ways and for proper observance at their Arlington National Cemetery Remembrance. Means respectively aren’t letting up. From this point on, facilities. was approximately the same The National Moment of it seems like political death by a thousand cuts. U.S. It was not until after World size as those that attend today’s Remembrance encourages all Rep. Neal wanted the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury War I, however, that the day observance, about 5,000 people. Americans to pause wherever (Continued on Page 11) was expanded to honor those Then, as now, small American they are at 3 p.m. local time on who have died in all American fl ags were placed on each grave Memorial Day for a minute of wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was — a tradition followed at many silence to remember and honor declared a national holiday by an national cemeteries today. In those who have died in service POST-GAZETTE SATELLITE OFFICE act of Congress, though it is still recent years, the custom has to the nation. As Moment of often called Decoration Day. It grown in many families to deco- Remembrance founder Carmella 343 CHELSEA ST., DAY SQ., EAST BOSTON was then also placed on the last rate the graves of all departed LaSpada states: “It’s a way we Monday in May, as were some loved ones. can all help put the memorial Tues. 10:00 AM-3:00 PM; Thurs. 11:00 AM-2:00 PM other federal holidays. The origins of special services back in Memorial Day.” Call 617-227-8929 for more information On Memorial Day the fl ag should be fl own at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, then raised briskly to the top of the staff until sunset, in honor of the nation’s battle heroes. PAGE 2 POST-GAZETTE, MAY 24, 2019 Cardinal’s Visit and Organ Recital at Saint Leonard Church by Bennett Molinari and Richard Molinari An Organ Recital will be held at Saint Leonard Church with internationally renowned Organist Maestro David Reccia Chynoweth on May 24th, commencing at 6:00 p.m. On Sunday, May 26th, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop CICERO Part I of Boston, will celebrate the 12 Noon Mass at Saint Leonard Church, he will bless the new pipe organ and the two new This week, we continue with the Sicilian corn harvest during hand-carved wooden statues of Saint Francis and Saint Clare.