Memorial Day

Today is the day the nation remembers those who have died serving in the armed forces.  Originally called Decoration Day, the holiday began to honor those men who had died for the Union in the Civil War.  Time has a brief history of the holiday  here. If you're interested in learning more about the grim realities of military service, I recommend War by Sebastian Junger.  The award-winning author of A Perfect Storm and A Death in Belmont accompanied a platoon during a fifteenth-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. Junger deftly captures the brutality of war and the complex realities of the people who must fight it. We're now in the 150th anniversary of  the third year of the Civil War.  You might consider the Library of America anthology The Civil War: The Third Year Told by Those Who Lived It,  which contains letters, articles, diary entries and speeches from over a hundred soldiers and civilians, including Robert Gould Shaw, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Mary Chesnut and George Templeton Strong. But if you would prefer to learn more about and reflect on the costs of this country's too most recent wars, here's something to think about: in 2012 suicides surpassed combat deaths among active-duty troops.