Memorial Day Story Archives - Page 2 of 3 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Flowers and Loss: A Memorial Day Snapshot

On Monday, Americans will celebrate Memorial Day. The holiday came to represent the unofficial start to summer. But for many, the day also reminds us to take a few moments to stop and remember a loved one who fought and died for our country on the battlefield. The holiday is steeped in rich history dating back to the American Civil War.

The exact beginnings of this federal holiday are debated, but most scholars say Memorial Day began after the end of the Civil War as a way to remember the vast numbers of dead. It’s recognized during springtime, because that’s when flowers bloomed and could be placed on gravesites.

Berkeley County Council member Elaine Mauck is a retired schoolteacher and lover of history. She spoke about the holiday at a recent Berkeley County Council meeting.

“Memorial Day started, more or less, as the families were reinterring their members that had been killed during the Civil War, and they were going from different battlefields and bringing their family members home,” Mauck said.

There were 750,000 casualties during the American Civil War, according to the National Park Service — and around 3,000 Union deaths in West Virginia, and more than 30,000 Confederate deaths in Virginia, according to the American Battlefield Trust.

Mauck said there was never an official Memorial Day recognized before the Civil War, because there had never been that sheer number of dead before.

“It was the massive numbers. I mean, Antietam, there was 25,000 killed. It was massive numbers.”

The National Park Service reports the battle of Antietam left 23,000 people dead, wounded or missing, and it lasted for just 12 hours.

Mauck also describes the importance springtime played in the creation of Memorial Day, and how today, we ended up having the holiday at the end of May.

“It was because the flowers in the South were available in April, and then it became, for regular Memorial Day, on May 30; your flowers in the North; your peonies, and the lilacs and things were more available May 30. So, the date was kinda changed to work for everybody.”

Today, our nation’s more than 130 national cemeteries often provide a place to celebrate Memorial Day. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports the first national cemeteries were also created as a result of the Civil War.

In 1971, Memorial Day was officially recognized as a federal holiday.

Flags Lowered in West Virginia to Honor Peace Officers

Flags are being lowered throughout West Virginia in honor of peace officers.

Gov. Jim Justice issued a proclamation Monday ordering U.S. and West Virginia state flags on state-owned facilities be lowered to half-staff Tuesday.

The flags are to be lowered from dawn to dusk in honor of Peace Officers Memorial Day.

West Virginia Museums to Let Military Members in for Free

Several West Virginia attractions are participating in the National Endowment for the Arts initiative to offer free admission to active-duty military members and their families.

The Blue Star Museums program includes more than 2,000 museums across the country offering the deal from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Participating state attractions are the Huntington Museum of Art, the Spark! Imagination and Science Center in Morgantown, the Watts Museum at West Virginia University, the Marion County Historical Society Museum in Fairmont, the Museums of Oglebay Institute in Wheeling, the Arthurdale Heritage museum and the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences in Charleston.

Memorial Day Turnpike Traffic Up 5 Percent

The West Virginia Parkways Authority reported turnpike traffic stretching from the Thursday before Memorial Day to the holiday itself was up by just over 5 percent this year.

The increased traffic brought a total of 588, 739 transactions at toll plazas, totaling $1,281,926 toll revenues. That amount is up more than $65,000 from revenues collected over the Memorial Day weekend in 2014.

Overall, Parkways General Manager Greg Barr said during a meeting of the group Thursday traffic on the turnpike is up by more than 4 percent since January.

For the past nine months of toll collections toll revenues are up $3.6 million over state estimates.

Turnpike employees are now preparing for increased traffic over the 4^th of July holiday weekend.

A report from the Turnpike Authority says all toll lanes will be manned during heavy traffic periods over the holiday and additional personnel will be placed at each barrier as relief for toll collectors.

Memorial Day Specials On TV And Radio

West Virginia Public Broadcasting honors the sacrifice of those who died while serving the country’s armed forces with special programs on television and radio. From the musical tributes on the National Memorial Day Concert airing live from the nation’s Capitol, to television and radio documentaries that recall important moments in history and first-person perspectives of conflict, these programs offer an opportunity for reflection and remembrance on this Memorial Day.

National Memorial Day Concert 2015 Sunday, May 24 at 8 p.m.

Honoring our American heroes for over 25 years, the National Memorial Day Concert pays tribute to the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, their families at home and all those who have given their lives for our country. Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise co-host the 26th annual broadcast of this night of remembrance that airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol before an audience of hundreds of thousands, millions at home and to our troops around the world via American Forces Network. The National Memorial Day Concert will showcase courageous American heroes who have been disabled for life; shine a spotlight on Gold Star Children who

This year’s National Memorial Day Concert shines a spotlight on Gold Star Children, those who have lost a parent to war. With lives that are forever changed, these children’s experiences will be told through the eyes of Bayleigh (left) and Cameron (right) Dostie, whose father, Shawn, made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in Iraq.

have lost a parent to war; and commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The all-star line-up includes distinguished American leader General Colin L. Powell USA (Ret.); seven-time Grammy Award-winner and international superstar Gloria Estefan; acclaimed film and television actress Stefanie Scott; “The Voice” season five winner Tessanne Chin; the world’s most prolific classical cross-over artist Katherine Jenkins; and renowned tenor Russell Watson in performance with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of top pops conductor Jack Everly.

Tradition of Service: The West Virginia Veteran’s Legacy Project Sunday, May 24 at 8 p.m. on WVPB.2 (check local listings) West Virginia military veterans, from World War II to the conflict in Afghanistan, recall their time spent serving their country.

We Served Too: The Story of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots Sunday, May 24 at 9 p.m. on WVPB.2 (check local listings) A look at how the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots broke through barriers during World War II, then were erased from the history books. Watch a trailer of the film.

Four-Four-Two, F Company At War Sunday, May 24 at 10 p.m. on WVPB.2 (check local listings) A profile of one World War II infantry regiment in the U.S. Army made up of Americans of Japanese ancestry.

Memory Of A Forgotten War Sunday, May 24 at 10:30 p.m. on WVPB.2 (check local listings) Deeply personal accounts of the Korean War are provided by four Korean American survivors.

A water-damaged photo of Delta Company on the ground.

On the Radio:

We’ve Never Been The Same: A War Story Monday, May 25 at 2 p.m.

Over the course of five years, Adam Piore gathered the stories of the surviving members of Delta Company, a Vietnam-era paratrooper unit; Jay Allison joined him for the last two years when it turned from a book into a radio story. At Fort Campbell before deployment, Delta was a ragtag bunch, the “leftovers” as one of their fellow soldiers put it, but on the night of March 18th, 1968, they became heroes. Their leader won the Congressional Medal of Honor and two others won the nation’s second highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, for their valor that night when the company endured a long and devastating battle—not as long or as devastating, however, as the years that followed, after the men of Delta Company came home separately to live alone with the memories. Read the producer’s notes and view an extensive slideshow of Delta Company.

BackStory: Memorials in America

BackStory with the American History Guys Monumental Disagreements: Memorials in America Thursday night at 9 p.m. on West Virginia Public Radio

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This is a country awash in monuments. They are the centerpieces of traffic circles, street corners and, of course, the National Mall. We have erected them to Rosie the Riveter and Confederate generals. Yet our ambivalence towards these monuments is as old as our enthusiasm for them. Case in point: The Washington Monument. Ever wonder why there isn’t actually a image of Washington on it?

In this Memorial Day episode of BackStory, we take on national remembrance. By looking at some of our country’s most iconic monuments, the Guys ask what—and whom—Americans choose to remember. They discover that memorials often tell us more about their creators than what or whom they memorialize.

Listen Thursday night at 9 p.m. on West Virginia Public Radio.