When General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic called for the observance of Memorial Day in 1868, he could scarcely have imagined the sacrifices that men and women of his reunited country would be asked to make in future conflicts. An estimated 3.3 million soldiers had served in the Confederate and Union Armies, and about 750,000 had died on both sides. But since that time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Defense, more than 600,000 men and women have died serving their country: 116,000 during the two years of U.S. involvement in WWI; 405,000 during WWII; another 54,000 in the Korean War, and 90,000 in Vietnam. The final human cost of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has yet to be determined, but a 2013 Congressional Research Service report estimated that nearly 6,000 U.S. soldiers died in those conflicts.
Memorial Day is a time to honor—in sadness and in gratitude—those who died for our country. In an era of drones, cyber warfare, smart bombs, and other weapons of our increasingly industrialized conflicts, it is easy to forget that it is the men and women of our armed forces who put themselves at risk and must sometimes pay the cost.
Harvard’s own Memorial Day ceremonies are a time for us to reflect on the sacrifices made by our own citizens and, as we visit and decorate their graves, to quietly thank them.
