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These pedantic phrases are oftenused flippantly, but they carry a great dealof truth to them. They particularly seemrelevant when describing the MemorialDay activities at Shiloh NationalCemetery. Through the decades of

memorialization and remembrance atShiloh National Military Park, peoplehave changed, sites have been altered, andthe calendar has advanced. Yet, in all thechange, the Memorial Day services atShiloh have remained amazingly constant.

History Repeats Itself

The Memorial Day service is one ofthe long-standing traditions at ShilohNational Cemetery. Since before the parkwas established in 1894, locals andveterans have met each year at thecemetery to remember and memorialize.

Although different in makeup, eachservice through the years has included thebasics of well-known speakers, patrioticsongs, and nationalistic poetry. The 1914Memorial Day services ended with amoving rendition of Home SweetHome.

Another of the marks of continuityin the Shiloh services is the emphasis onpeople. Event organizers as far back as the1890s tried to use people to provide aninteresting, informative, and movingservice. Local church choirs have almostannually sung at the event. Veterans, just

as today, have often been spotlighted fortheir services. On Memorial Day in 1907,sixty-five aged members of the 21st

Missouri returned to the battlefield andwere honored guests. And just as today,orators ranging from governors to judges

to former generals have spoken eloquentlyabout the need to remember the sacrificeof our nations war dead.

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Shiloh National Park ServiceU.S. Department of the InteriorShiloh National Military Park

Tennessee-Mississippi

Memorial Day at Shiloh

Continuity

History repeats itself

What goes around comes around

The more things change, the more they stay the same

A gathering of Shiloh veterans on Memorial Day

Honor Guard representing Americas wars

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Decoration A similar tradition is the decoration of thegraves. As far as records show, which dateback to the 1890s, American flags havebeen placed on each grave in the cemetery.Although responsibility for the placement

of flags has changed through the yearsfrom veterans groups to politicalorganizations to todays National Park

Service, the simple gesture of individuallyrecognizing each servicemans sacrificestill remains. Similarly, the United Statesflag has traditionally flown at half-staff onMemorial Day from sunrise until noon.

There is even a custom, dating back as faras the parks establishment, of decoratingthe Confederate mass graves in the park.

E X P E R I E N C E Y O U R A M E R I C A

Continue to Remember Times have changed, participants havebeen replaced, and the United States hasmany more war-dead to remember, butthe basic idea of remembrance at Shilohhas remained the same, and the way it has

been accomplished at Shiloh has remainedamazingly constant through the years.May we always continue to hold this dayand the sacrifice it memorializes dear toour hearts.

Despite the continuity, one particulartradition has hopefully changed. In thefirst years of the park, rain dampened(literally) the festivities on Memorial Day.Almost each year, the parks daily eventledger book records the similar wordsrain occurred, the usual 30th of May

rain fell, or the 30th of May brought thecustomary rain. The crowds of coursewere smaller during rainy days, but sunnyholidays would easily attract five-thousand people, with estimates of asmany as twelve-thousand in 1906.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Shiloh National Cemetery