BOUNTIFUL—Memorial Day is a time for picnics, family gatherings and other fun activities but its true purpose is to honor those who fought for freedom. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice. Veterans, their families and community leaders came together on Memorial Day at the Bountiful Veterans Park to celebrate those men and women.

“This year is our 250th birthday of the founding of our country,” said Bountiful Mayor Kate Bradshaw. “I’ve been thinking a lot as I have been working with our America250 committee about the sacred places where we celebrate our country.”

Bradshaw said some of the places she has visited in her life that have stuck with her are places like Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. the Vietnam War Memorial, Gettysburg field in Pennsylvania and many others.

“Those are all places where I have traveled and I have found them to be deeply spiritual in sacred places as I think about lives that were lost, for people who gave their last full measure in service to our country.”

This park is a place that has that type of reverence and commitment, she said. “It is a representation of the sacred devotion of those who have given their full measure.”

“The origin of Memorial Day goes all the way back to the years following the Civil War, the deadliest war in United States history,” said Jennifer Kerns Davis. “More than 600,000 soldiers lost their lives and communities across the country were grieving fathers, sons, brothers and friends.”

People began gathering in cemeteries to decorate soldiers’ graves with flowers and flags, she said. “That’s actually why the holiday was first called Decoration Day.”

One standout event occurred a few weeks after the close of the Civil War in Charleston, South Carolina, said Davis. “A confederate prison that had been recently vacated due to the end of the war was the site for this and Black Union army troops that were still serving discovered that hundreds of Union soldiers and former prisoners had been buried in a mass grave.”

These newly freed soldiers carefully reburied the soldiers properly, she said. “They built a fence around the cemetery and organized what many historians consider one of the first Memorial Day observances.”

Memorial Day is specifically a day of remembrance for the fallen, Kerns said. “Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act in the year 2000. It encourages all Americans to pause for exactly one minute at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day to reflect and honor the fallen.”

“From the shot heard around the world in 1775 with the battles of Lexington and Concord, right up until today, millions of Americans have pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in order to establish and to preserve the independence of the United States of America,” said Bountiful Veterans Park Board member Ron Mortensen. “As we recognize the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on this Memorial Day we especially honor those Americans who have given their lives. First to gain our independence and then to preserve our independence.” 

Among those who have helped preserve that independence are the 189 veterans from south Davis County whose names have just been added to walls 4A and 4B, he said. “They join the other 7,150 veterans who were already recognized on these walls for their service to our nation.”

Remember those who have served this nation and those currently serving, said Mortensen. “May God watch over all those who put their lives on the line for our nation. May God bless those who lead this nation. May God grant each of us the desire to defend the independence of the United States and may God continue to bless America and its veterans.”