History Book: The cost of freedom

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, May 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

JENNY ROUGH, HOST: And I’m Jenny Rough.

Up next, the WORLD History Book. Today is Memorial Day, a day that has its roots in the Civil War. It began in the 1860s as “Decoration Day” when hundreds of new war cemeteries were established. Families gathered to lay flowers at the graves of their sons, husbands, and fathers. By 1890, every Union state had adopted it.

EICHER: After the two world wars, Memorial Day became a day of remembrance for all members of the U.S. military who fought and died in service. Congress in 1968 set its yearly observance to the last Monday in May.

Today, Bob Case considers how both the Bible and the Great American Songbook honor the fallen.

ROBERT CASE: The first national commemorative military memorial service recorded in the Biblical Songbook is in 2 Samuel 3. The great Jewish king David and the nation of Israel gather to remember the great Israelite general, Abner—murdered by a rival general Joab. In verse 31 David in full mourning:

“Then David said to Joab and all the people with [Joab]. ‘Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and walk in mourning in front of Abner.’”

King David himself walked behind the bier. At the memorial service, David publicly recites a lyrical elegy with the closing refrain:

“Do you not realize that a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel this day?”

This acclamation has reverberated for centuries in English-speaking military funerals ever since the publication of the 1611 King James Bible.

MUSIC: [GOD OF OUR FATHERS by United States Marine Band]

A common hymn at religious commemorations this Memorial Day is “God of our Fathers” — the unofficial hymn of the United States Armed Forces, played beautifully here by the President’s own United States Marine Band.

The lyrics include references to our collective reliance on God. “In this free land, by thee our lot is cast; be thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay.”

MUSIC: [BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC by United States Army Field Band]

Turning now to a great American song of remembrance. In the years before the Civil War the United States had no universally recognized national anthem. As the clouds of war gathered it was thought that an anthem was needed to inspire American patriotism. In the fall of 1861, Julia Ward Howe attended a Union Army camp outside of Washington, D.C. She heard the soldiers singing the famous song, “John Brown’s body lies a moldering in the grave,” set to the tune of an old Methodist camp meeting song.

MUSIC: [JOHN BROWN'S BODY by Paul Robeson]

She loved the vigor and martial spirit of the music but found the words inadequate for a lasting hymn of patriotism. Her famous Unitarian minister, Rev. James Freeman Clark, suggested she write some new lyrics. Early the following morning in her Washington, D.C. hotel room she wrote the words we sing today. They cast the war as a terrible conflict in which one side has the advantage of God’s “terrible swift sword.” The great military historian Henry Steele Commager called her lyrics “the one great song to come out of the Civil War, the one great song ever written in America.”

It is hard to find serious songs that celebrate and honor our fallen warriors in the Great American Songbook—it’s mostly dedicated to love and romance. Most songs written during wartime were patriotic, catchy, and geared to the universal themes of service and adventure.

MUSIC: [BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY by Andrew Sisters]

Don Raye became famous for his novelty song “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” performed by the Andrews Sisters.

But a year earlier he and movie score composer Al Jacobs wrote one of the most popular patriotic songs to come out of the Great American Songbook. This is my Country.

MUSIC: [THIS IS MY COUNTRY by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians]

Not long after publishing “This is my country” Don Raye enlisted in the U.S. Army himself.

MUSIC: [THIS IS MY COUNTRY by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians]

Christians are citizens of a heavenly country. We are called to love Christ and His kingdom most of all. But we’re also to seek the good of the land God has placed us in. Memorial Day is a day to be thankful and remember those who have fallen in the service of our country. They gave what President Abraham Lincoln called “the last full measure of devotion” —supporting the principle of liberty and justice for all.

In the U.S. we consider Memorial Day the unofficial start of summer, but we mustn’t forget its true meaning. As we gather with friends and family today, let’s take time to reflect on, and remember the uniformed “fallen princes” who will not be with us as we celebrate.

I’m Robert Case.

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