MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

I wrote this in the early ninties, it was recorded four times with the original lyrics. After 9/11, I rewrote it to reflect what happened that day.
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THE AMERICAN WAY

E. Don Harpe



We don’t always like it and we don’t always agree

But the facts are written on the pages of American history

If you’re picking on my brother, you’ve just picked a fight with me

And while we stand together you can’t bring us to our knees.



That’s the American Way, say can you see it

Baptized in fire and written in brothers blood

The American Way, take it or leave it,

Cause it’s alive and well and doing good

Living in the patriotic hearts of a thousand neighborhoods

The American Way.



Some folks are buying terror and sending it our way

In airplanes or in envelopes, they’re trying to make us pay

For something they think we did wrong, but we’ve got lots to say

When we were at our lowest point, we raised our heads to pray.



That’s the American Way, say can you see it

Baptized in fire and written in brothers blood

It’s the American Way, take it or leave it,

Cause it’s alive and well and doing good

Living in the patriotic hearts of a thousand neighborhoods

The American Way.



In New York and in Washington, in the Pennsylvania sky

They hit us hard and they brought tears to a million American eyes

But they forgot the lessons, that the years have proven true

When you get our backs against a wall, we’re coming after you.

Cause these colors never run, Lord these colors never fade

I know that’s why I’m proud that I can look at you today,

And I can say;



That’s the American Way, say can you see it

Baptized in fire and written in brothers blood

The American Way, take it or leave it,

Cause it’s alive and well and doing good

Living in the patriotic hearts of a thousand neighborhoods

The American Way.



Ó 1994 – 2009 Harpe

There will be flags placed on many gravesites over the holiday around this country. May we never forget!

Let's not forget the sick one's either.

Some of them kept their lives and lost their minds.

Great thread, Don! And great song, other Don!

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). 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, 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," 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.
Love,

Memorial Day is special, not just in America but around the world. Taking the time to remember those whose lives were lost performing a service for their country is important. It is not always remembering the deeds of the victor, but sometimes remembering the waste of lives for an unjust cause.
Dead is dead. Someone's son or daughter died for their country. It would be great to feel that all deaths were in a just cause, but sadly, that is not always the case.

Time to reflect and say thank you to all the veterans that sacrificed their lives for their country. Regardless of the conflict, the time, the day, or the year the sacrifices have been the same. Forever held in esteem in our memories and our hearts. God bless the fallen solidiers.

Thank you ... to all who have served, to those who still do, and for those who paid the ultimate price.

Vickie

I dont know if we are supposed to hang a flag in front of our houses on Memorial Day, but I did anyway. I dont figure that it would hurt anything to do so. I didnt see many others in the neighborhood though.
Heck, I'm the kind of wierdo that thinks that June 14th is flagday, and usually hang a flag then too.
I think I may be more patriotic than smart, at least I think the neighbors feel that way? I dont care what the neighbors think. You can tell by looking at my avatar (that's me) that I'm not real couth by any means (like I care). My neighbors all think I'm nuts anyway. I dont care what anybody thinks, I'll hang Old Glory out regardless.

Richard,

The flag flys at my house everyday it's not storming!!!