Memorial Day - The Numbers Tell A Story

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Casio America, Inc.

Memorial Day is a day where we commemorate and remember those who have died in service to our country. It was originally observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifice of Civil War soldiers, and was called Decoration Day, since the tradition was to decorate graves with flowers, wreaths, and flags. It didn't become an official federal holiday until 1971, and now includes all U.S. Military service. It is now a day that commemorates all men and women who have died while serving in the U.S. Military (all branches).

Many of us look at Memorial Day, or maybe I should say Memorial Day Weekend, as a holiday to celebrate the beginning of summer, and a three-day holiday. Since moving to my town of Doylestown, PA, I have had a new respect for this 'holiday', because my town really values the tradition and honors the purpose of this day as it was originally intended - to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives serving our country. Remembering, honoring, and saluting those that have died in wars fighting for our freedoms and the freedoms and rights of others. Doylestown boasts the "the oldest Memorial Day Parade in the nation”, and it is a sight to behold. Veterans from all branches of the military are part of the services, and the parade starts at the town High School and weaves through the town with thousands of people waving and cheering, and finally ends at our town cemetery, where the veterans do a memorial service and the United Veterans of Doylestown place wreaths on all the graves to honor those who died.

It's staggering to see all the flags and war memorial plagues at each grave of a fallen soldier as I walk around the town's cemeteries and war memorials. Because I live in a historic town, there are many gravesites commemorating Civil War soldiers. In my research, the Civil War claimed more lives than any other conflict in U.S. history, and was the reason behind the country's first national cemeteries. This interesting and sad factoid made me curious about what exactly those numbers of fallen soldiers were, and how other military conflicts the U.S. has engaged in over the years compared. While it might seem morbid to dwell on numbers, I actually feel as if it honors those that died in these wars by remembering how many served and died to protect us and fight for what they believed in.

I used ClassPad.net and the new fx-CG100 grapher to make a quick visual comparison in several ways of the major U.S. Military war casualties, which I’ve shared in the video below. As you can see, The Civil War ranks number one. If you look at the visual comparison in the histogram, you see that The Civil War had about 53% more fatalities than the next ranked war, which was World War II. Another startling comparison is that The Civil War has almost the same number of fatalities as all the other listed wars combined. When you look at these numbers in different representations, I think you get a much better sense of the gravity of it all and how so many were willing to die for causes they believed in and/or for the honor and freedom of our country

Remember - Memorial Day is not about your right to have a day off, or a nice long weekend, or the start of summer, but instead, about those who died fighting for you to have those rights. Remember to take a moment this Memorial Day and be grateful for the ultimate sacrifice of all these men and women, including all those who died in the 'not so major' conflicts and wars throughout the years. 

Photos courtesy of Karen Greenhaus.