By SALINA POST
Members of the Saline County Community and friends of the W. Kreps American Legion Post 62 honored our nation’s fallen heroes during a Memorial Day Ceremony on May 27 at the Salina-Saline County War Memorial in Sunset Park.
U.S. Army Ret. Col. Julia Bell, who, in 2021, made significant contributions as the Defense Logistics Agency Indo-Pacific Military Deputy Commander, spoke to more than 100 attendees dressed in red, white and blue.
Bell is a Salina native and Salina South High School graduate.
Bell, the daughter of Sgt. Maj. Eldrige, retired, and Thanh Thuy Bell, of Salina. Bell attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps in June 1996.
The soldier behind Legion Post 62's name, Leslie W. Kreps, was a fallen soldier of World War I. He was buried in Romagne, France, and was awarded a Purple Heart and Victory Medal for his military deeds.
Salina City Mayor Bill Longbine said he was pleased with the turnout for the ceremony.
“We ordered some City Commission weather,” Longbine said. “ The turnout really shows the Salina community cares about the fallen who gave their lives.”
Longbine said his father, Dee Longbine was on the committee that was responsible for bringing the first war memorial monument to Sunset Park.
More about Memorial Day
Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.
Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared it should be May 30. It is believed the date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The ceremonies centered around the mourning- draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies.
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After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.
Local Observances Claim To Be First
Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., on April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh.
Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.
Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va.
The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan.
Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried.
Official Birthplace Declared In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day.
There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events. By the end of the 19th century Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation.
State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities. It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars.
In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.