26 November 2011
Brothers in Arms and Friends of the "Boys in Blue"
Today you have gathered to honor the memory of the noble
dead who have found final rest in this quiet place. This ceremony
is fitting, right, and in fact our bounden duty as the recipients of
their gift, of a free and united
nation, which they so nobly fought to
provide us. However, this ceremony and
its simple acts of remembrance on your part will go overlooked by Americans at
large; as they pursue the present and fail to see cause for reflection on the
past. They have forgotten the men you
gather here to venerate. The
responsibility has been given to you few, here gathered, to follow the less worn path and heed the
words of General John Logan who said "We should guard their graves with
sacred vigilance" and that we should
"Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going
of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let
no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present
or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a
free and undivided republic." Myself, I now endeavor daily to keep Logan's
admonition "to Remember" in my
heart and believe that you all do as well.
Those of you standing here today have been assigned the duty to ensure
that the men who struggled in that terrible and cruel fight called the American
Civil War are never forgotten. Every
grave you mark, every monument you
preserve, and every child you tell their story to presents an opportunity to
keep alive the names of the 'Boys in Blue." Failure to take these opportunities will mean
that, each of the men who lay here have died not only in body but also in
spirit. Lincoln said in the Gettysburg
Address that we must resolve "that these dead shall not have died in
vain" Let us now be so resolved.
Mark R. Day, Captain
Commander 2nd Military District SVR
