Here are a couple of references that describe Memorial Day.

• Memorial Day | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica
• History of Memorial Day | All About Memorial Day History (usmemorialday.org)

Why do we celebrate Memorial Day. Well, here is a reason.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. It’s difficult to prove the origins of this day as over two dozen towns and cities lay claim to be the birthplace. In May 1966, President Lyndon Johnson stepped in and officially declared Waterloo N.Y. the birthplace of Memorial Day. (continued)

History of Memorial Day | All About Memorial Day History (usmemorialday.org)

The origin of the Memorial Day goes back to the American Civil War. This was a time munitions makers were becoming devastatingly inventive. Rows of cannons fired grapeshot into attacking troops. Accurate, repeating rifles fired shot after shot after shot. Gatling guns mowed men down. So, what was there to celebrate, to memorialize? Why should we remember these dead? President Abraham Lincoln probably explained it best in a surprisingly brief speech, Gettysburg Address – Lincoln Home National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).

The word honor is little used these days, but Lincoln used it in his speech. We should want to remember those worthy of the honor. We should honor the honorable, but what makes those we honor on Memorial Day worthy of honor? They made a commitment to certain high ideals, to people they cared about, and they kept that commitment, even though it cost them their lives. And so even one of our greatest presidents felt honored to honor them.

How can we best remember our honored dead? We can do our best to preserve what they fought for. With that in mind, consider the following dialog between Abraham Hamilton III (American Family Radio – The Hamilton Corner (afr.net)) and Ken Cuccinelli (Election Transparency Initiative) over election integrity and a bill called HR1 (see H.R.1 – 117th Congress (2021-2022): For the People Act of 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress and The Facts About H.R. 1: The “For the People Act of 2021” | The Heritage Foundation.

Hamilton: I wanna move now to election integrity. A lot of us witnessed — I can tell you just my own brief story in this regard — cause I was getting hammered with it when Georgia passed its election integrity law, and the whole world cried “racism, racism, racism.”  Mr. Biden himself saying:  “oh it’s it’s Jim Eagle (see ‘This Makes Jim Crow Look Like Jim Eagle’ Biden Says of GOP Election Integrity Efforts – PJ Media),” and I got couple questions about the law. So, the first thing I did is found the law and read it.

Cuccinelli: What a concept!

Hamilton: What an idea! But when I read the law, I thought, there’s nothing about this law that is remotely racist, and in fact it’s not as conservative in my opinion as I would like their election integrity law to be, but for anyone to suggest that it’s racist? That it creates more opportunity to vote and creates more opportunities for voting to happened. You even had the idol –I don’t call them progressive, I call them regressive because they’re not advancing anything, only taking us backwards — but the regressive Washington Post even gave Mr. Biden four Pinocchio’s because he flat out lied about the law. So, digging into the law there is something else afoot here, and in my view, and I want to kick this question to you to get your opinion on it. It seems to me that it was all a sham in order to drum up support for a federalization of our election laws: to try to castigate state sovereignty over elections to get a nationalized momentum of support for HR1. How do you take the push for HR1 and using, really, the states efforts to pursue election integrity kind of as bases to drum up support for the federalization of our elections and in centralizing them in Washington?

Cuccinelli: Yeah! So, you are right. I mean the Georgia law was a good step in the direction of expanding both access and security to the ballot in Georgia, and … but it was fairly minor by the standards of their whole election system, and yet the left went berserk. And of course, it doesn’t take more than a high school logic class to teach you that if the first thing they do is just call you names, it probably means they don’t have a good argument against what you’re doing. It’s the old ad hominem attack. They attack people, not ideas, because they cannot go toe to toe. Look! I’ve had –I’ve had a sort of a fishing line out there to debate people on the left, over HR1, for a month.  None of them will take me up on it.  They won’t take me up on it because it’s not a defensible law. This is a federal law, and I agree with you a lot of what’s going on at the strategic level is they attack something like the Georgia law as an excuse and say:  “oh federal government come rescue us from these racists.” Now mind you! Two years ago Stacey Abrams (Home | Fair Fight) was saying, as the losing Democrat, was saying {paraphrased}:  “oh this is rigged. We need to fix this system.” And then, of course, Republicans come along and start taking some basic steps to fix it. (paraphrasing Abrams, again} “All these fixes are racist.” She’s painted herself into a bit of a corner.

Excerpt from Ken Cuccinelli & Abraham Hamilton III: Last Call For Liberty Registration, Fri, May 21, 2021 at 7:30 PM | Eventbrite

Without honest and free elections — without public confidence in our elections — we cannot preserve our republic. Therefore, when we defend the integrity of our elections, battle to make our elections work, we honor those who have fought for us. We keep alive that resolve that Lincoln called for.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Gettysburg Address – Lincoln Home National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

To honor our dead, we don’t have to charge steel and concrete fortifications well protected by well armed, hostile soldiers. We do have to take the time to be good citizens. To honor our dead, we must strive make our republic work. We must do our best to elect people who understand and honor the accomplishments of those who went before us. That requires us to study our history. That requires us to learn what the people went before us actually believed and accomplished. That requires us to respect their struggles and the obstacles they overcame. That requires us to pray to God that He will give us His grace that we might do as well as they did.