[cubscouts] Memorial Day Weekend Cub Scout Events

[Dpsimmons at aol.com]

Hello Cubs and Cub Parents,
 
Just a quick reminder of some Scouting events during this Memorial Day  
Weekend. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. David
 
 
Saturday, May 23
 
8:00 a.m.  Put out veterans’  flags at Oakdale Cemetery. Meet at Boy Scout 
Cabin.
 
9:00 a.m. Cub Scout Pack Hike  We will  meet at the Boy Scout Cabin after 
putting up the veterans’ flags in the  cemetery, which should be about 9:00 
a.m. We will travel to the  Ivan Boyd Nature Preserve just north of town for 
a local nature trail hike. The  hike will be about 1/2 mile. Be sure and 
bring sturdy shoes and a water bottle.  We will be done by 10:00 or so.
 
Monday, May  25 
3:00 p.m. Flag Retirement Ceremony in Lawrence by  Troop 60 at VFW Hall, 
138 Alabama, Lawrence. All Scouts are encouraged to attend. I  heard there may 
be a couple of hundred flags. It should be an awesome  ceremony. 
4:30  p.m. Pick up veterans’ flags at Oakdale  Cemetery 
Here is  a little history about Memorial Day  
Memorial  Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance 
for those who  have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to 
its  actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim 
to being  the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that 
organized women's  groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the 
Civil War: a  hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" 
by Nella L. Sweet  carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who 
are Decorating the Graves  of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's 
_Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920_ 
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ncdhtml/hasmhome.html) ). While  Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared 
the birthplace of Memorial Day by  President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, 
it's difficult to prove conclusively the  origins of the day. It is more likely 
that it had many separate beginnings; each  of those towns and every 
planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the  war dead in the 1860's 
tapped into the general human need to honor our dead,  each contributed 
honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan  giving his 
official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very  first, what is 
important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is  not about 
division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to  honor 
those who gave their all.  
  General John A.  Logan
Library of Congress,  Prints & Photographs Division, [LC-B8172- 6403 DLC 
(b&w film  neg.)] Memorial Day was officially  proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by 
General John Logan, national commander of the Grand  Army of the Republic, in 
his _General Order No.  11_ (http://www.usmemorialday.org/order11.html) , and 
was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers  were placed on the graves 
of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington  National Cemetery. The first 
state to officially 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). It is now  
celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by 
Congress  with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three 
day  weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an 
additional  separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in 
Texas, April  26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in 
South Carolina; and  June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and 
Tennessee.  
In 1915, inspired by the poem _"In Flanders  Fields,"_ 
(http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html#1)  Moina Michael replied with her own poem:  

   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. She  was the first to wear 
one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with  the money going 
to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France  was visiting 
the United States and learned of this new custom started by  Ms.Michael and 
when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise  money 
for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to  other 
countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children's League sold poppies  
nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a  
year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before 
Memorial  Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to 
nationally sell  poppies. Two years later their _"Buddy" Poppy program_ 
(http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=cmty.levelc&cid=127)  was selling artificial  poppies 
made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms Michael  
for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing _a red 3 cent  
postage stamp_ (http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html#2)  with her 
likeness on it.  
Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the  years. Many 
Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of  Memorial 
Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly  ignored, 
neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for  the 
day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, 
 many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for  
honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our 
country.  
There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the  Thursday 
before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place  small 
American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington  
National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure 
 that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of 
St.  Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks 
National  Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this 
day. More  recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed 
day for  Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at 
each of  approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg 
and  Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the _Luminaria 
 Program_ (http://www.nps.gov/frsp/luminari.htm) ). And in 2004, Washington 
D.C. held its first  Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.  

**************Recession-proof vacation ideas.  Find free things to do in 
the U.S. 
(http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/domestic/national-tourism-week?ncid=emlcntustrav00000002)
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