As a child, I have faint memories of going with my parents and grandparents to decorate family members’ graves on Memorial Day. Dressed in my Easter attire, bonnet, gloves, and dress, holding my grandparents’ hands, not understanding the significance of what it meant to them and other family members, but experiencing the comfort and peace it brought in being a part of the day’s event.
Whether my parents and grandparents understood it at the time or not, it also taught me early on in my life about the sanctity of life, about respecting and honoring those who had lived and died before me, and to recognize how men and women had served our country and given their lives for our nation.
Created by a holy, perfect God, human life is sacred, as described in Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”
Each person receives God’s breath of life. As Genesis 2:7 describes, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
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Memorial Day’s Beginning
“Memorial Day in America, as an annual observance, can be traced back to the end of the Civil War, a war in which over half a million died. Southern women scattered spring flowers on graves of both northern Union and southern Confederate soldiers,” writes Miracles in American History author, historian, and speaker, William J. Federer.
As a day for loved ones to mourn the loss and decorate the graves of their fallen soldiers, it was initially called Decoration Day. Later, it was renamed Memorial Day. It was established to remember and honor the countless men and women who have died in service to their country. The first national one was observed on May 30, 1868.
Dr. Jerry Newcombe, Executive Director of Providence Forum, writes, “As a grandfather of some young children, we go to the store and buy small American flags. Then on Memorial Day, we go to the graveyard and look for the graves marking those who have served in the military. Our grandchildren feel happy to do this.”
Newcombe encourages Americans to commemorate Memorial Day this year, writing, “It’s a time to honor the fallen. To honor those who have paid the last full measure of devotion to our nation.”
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Memorial Day Helps Us Reflect On the Fight for Freedom
Federer reminds Americans how the future 40th President, Ronald Reagan, spoke on March 30, 1961, to the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, reflecting and inspiring those in attendance to purposefully pass on the heritage of fighting for and sacrificing ourselves for freedom for future generations, saying:
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well-taught lessons of how they, in their lifetime, must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."
“Memorial Day is a good time for all Americans to give thanks for our hard-fought freedoms,” writes Newcombe, “to think of the bloody footprints in the snow at Valley Forge of our soldiers who endured that savage winter of 1777-1778. They did it for us. Jesus said it best, ‘No greater love has anyone than that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
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Memorial Day Helps Us Remember the High Cost of Freedom
Newcombe explains how, on November 21, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln wrote Mrs. Bixby of Massachusetts, a mother who had lost five sons in the Civil War, said: “I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.”
“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”
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Memorial Day Helps to Remind Us of Freedom’s Sorrow
Wars and worldwide conflicts have brought deep sorrow and loss to countless American families who, over the years, have lost their loved ones serving in our Armed Forces. Whether a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or U.S. Coast Guard is lost, the grief and sorrow are often overwhelming and especially tragic for close family and friends.
Sometimes, the public doesn’t understand the tremendous loss involved. Although viewing them as fallen heroes and deserving of patriotic honor, they mistakenly think this somehow helps to soften the blow a family experiences when a beloved family member is lost.
But it’s a heartbreaking loss and grief for families, difficult to accept and process, often under tragic circumstances, without warning and with no opportunity to say goodbye.
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Memorial Day Helps Us Recognize Freedom’s Sacrifices
Clarence “Bud” Clay is the father of fallen Marine Dan Clay, who was killed December 1, 2005, in Iraq. The Clay family was gathered together in Pensacola, Florida, when the military arrived with news of Dan’s death. “We all got down before the couch on our knees and began to pray,” explains Sara Jo Clay, Dan’s mother.
Dan, who professed faith in Jesus Christ at 11 years old, left a letter to be delivered to his family in the event of his death, writing, “I have the privilege of being one who has finished the race. I have been in the company of heroes. I am now counted among them.”
Leaving behind his parents, wife Lisa, and three sisters, Dan’s father shared how “God gives you what you need, when you need it. Now it doesn’t mean we don’t have times when it [grief] doesn’t kind of roll over you like a wave,” explains Bud, “but you just kind of swallow and go on. This is not the end. Dan’s home, and I will see him again.”
As the Clays have experienced, God comforts families in their sorrow, giving them the hope and promise of seeing their fallen heroes again.
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7 Ways to Reflect On, Remember, Remind, and Recognize Memorial Day
It’s important for Americans to commemorate Memorial Day and not forget our military men and women who served and fought for our country throughout the decades: to reflect on, remember, remind, and recognize the fight, the cost, the sorrow, and the sacrifices, how they have paid dearly with their lives so that we may live and enjoy the blessings of freedom today.
America’s freedom endures in part because we take time to thank God for His hand in leading our nation and recognize the countless individuals who have sacrificed their own lives to gain and maintain it. Here are seven ways to commemorate Memorial Day this year.
1. Attend a memorial service for servicemen and women who laid down their lives for their country. Many veteran facilities and cemeteries offer Memorial Day services.
2. To commemorate the day, visit a veteran’s memorial or cemetery. Walk through the grounds, taking time to reflect, remember, and recognize the lives lost in military service. Bring flowers or small American flags to decorate graves.
3. Gather family members to look at photos of loved ones who have served in the military over the years and share stories about their lives.
4. Create a photo album for a friend or family member that honors and commemorates their military serviceman or woman who died while serving in the military.
5. Write a thoughtful letter or card to a family who has lost a loved one in military service, letting them know you remember their loved one’s sacrifice, and are praying for God’s comfort for them, grateful for their family member’s service and sacrifice.
6. Spend time praying for families who have lost loved ones in military service, asking God to send His peace and comfort to them.
7. Create a video tribute to share online with friends and family members that commemorates and encourages honor for those who have served their nations and given their lives for our freedom.
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Federer, W.J. (2024, May 26). Memorial Day—Honoring American Heroes of Courage, Sacrifice, & Faith—American Minute with Bill Federer. AmericanMinute. https://americanminute.com/blogs/todays-american-minute/memorial-day-honoring-american-heroes-of-courage-sacrifice-faith-american-minute-with-bill-federer
(J. Newcombe, personal communication, April 19, 2024)
(W.J. Federer, personal communication, September 6, 2022)
Coral Ridge Media (June 2006). Letter from Fallen Marine Reaches Nation. Impact Plus Newsletter. (p.1).
Originally published Tuesday, 20 May 2025.
