HONORING AMERICA'S The grave for Dick Brady, Monett American Legion past commander, Coast Guard veteran, longtime editor and publisher at The Monett Times, in the Monett IOOF Cemetery, decorated for Memorial Day.
HEROES Memorial Day salutes military service
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emorial Day is one of the most special days on the American calendar, sacred for the honor it extends to war heroes, but secular in that it encompasses all who have served, regardless of religion or ethnicity. Different from Veterans Day, Memorial Day honors the dead and has evolved over time to a much more universal recognition. Memorial Day began as Decoration Day. In one of the oldest surviving newspapers in Monett, The Monett Times printed General Order No. 1, dates May 23, 1901, from Eagle Post No. 492, Department of Missouri for the Grand Army of the Republic, which read "We are again reminded that the time is fast approaching when according to the well established custom of our order, it will be our sad duty by lovingly and earnestly duty [to] devote a day to our heroic dead, departed comrades whose record in this life is closed. Therefore it is earnestly requested that all comrades meet at the Post Hall at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 30, and march to the cemetery and there decorate the graves of Union soldiers with the flowers of spring and the flag they love so well." The order went on to appeal to the city to suspend business from noon to 5 p.m. "so that all may have an opportunity to participate in this great and loving cause." Memorial services were held at the Methodist Episcopal Church South (Sixth and Bond) during the regular Sunday service on May 26. "All comrades should attend," said the order, signed by G.B. Draper, Post commander, and O.P. Shaffer, adjutant.
Story by Murray Bishoff
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