The Highest Virtues of Men and Citizens

Memorial Day began in the years after the Civil War, when it was originally called “Decoration Day.” At the first official celebration of this holiday in 1868, then-Congressman James A. Garfield, who would become our 20th president, said in a speech at Arlington National Cemetery that those who gave their lives for our country “summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens.”

That is as true today as it was 150 years ago. Memorial Day honors the sacrifices of people like Charles Alan Jones, a Nebraskan who was killed during the attack on Pearl...