The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 10

A10 Pantagraph Monday, May 28, 2007 www.pantagraph.com OUR NATION MEMORIAL DAY Holiday's history starts in Waterloo Motorcycle group brings message right to Bush's doorstep 5 i t--' i (3 i 9 1 i Xjv, 4 APLAWRENCE JACKSON President Bush greets Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, right, and the Rolling Thunder group at the White House on Sunday. N. Y. village proud to be birthplace of Memorial Day By Ben Dobbin ASSOCIATED PRESS WATERLOO, N.Y. Like almost everyone in this village, pharmacist Henry Welles joined the jubilant crowds at welcome-home parades for Civil War soldiers in 1865.

It got him thinking that a solemn day to memorialize those who didn't make it back alive also was needed. His idea took root on May 5, 1866. The woolen mills along the canal shut down for the day Banks and grocery stores did too. And scores of villagers marched in mourning, some like Welles visiting all three cemeteries to decorate each veteran's grave with a floral cross. More than two dozen communities around the United States, from Boalsburg, to Macon, and Carbondale, to Richmond, Va claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day Yet the official distinction, signed into law by President Johnson in 1966, is held by Waterloo.

Civic boosters here are redoubling their efforts to capitalize on the honor from hanging "Birthplace of Memorial Day" banners across Main Street to digging more deeply into the history of the national holiday's local origins in this village of 5,100 in central New York's Finger Lakes wine region. "It doesn't take away from other places where homage was paid by various individuals," said Tanya Warren, curator of Waterloo's newly expanded National Memorial Day Museum. "The 'i By Ben Feller ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. President Bush likes a serene White House most Sundays. Every now and then, though, he is ready for rumble.

Leaders of Rolling Thunder, the motorcycling group that raises awareness about missing veterans, roared right up the mansion's driveway this Sunday Bush, just back from a weekend at Camp David, stood alone outside the South Portico to meet them. No Memorial Day weekend in the capital is complete without the ritualistic rumble of Rolling Thunder. For 20 years now, the nonprofit group has led a "Ride for Freedom" along the National Mall, a full-throttle demonstration in support of soldiers held captive or missing in action. "How you doing, Artie? Welcome back," the president told Artie Muller, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit group. Muller led 13 visitors who came calling on eight motorcycles.

The guests included Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, whose Harley-Davidson was decked out with patriotic bunting. Bush gave out handshakes and hugs, took at look at the gleaming bikes and then invited his visitors into the Oval Office. Rolling Thunder seeks a full accounting of veterans who are prisoners of war or are missing Associated PressDAVID DUPREY Tanya Warren, curator of the newly expanded National Memorial Day Museum in Waterloo, N.Y., poses outside the museum Thursday. Waterloo is the official birthplace of Memorial Day. in action.

It also advocates for fair treatment of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been critical of Bush's Veteran Affairs Department on that front. Afterward, Muller said he presented a series of concerns to Bush. Among them were the way the Defense Department classifies missing and captured troops and the plight of soldiers who have been discharged from military hospitals and are having trouble supporting their families; "He's always been very honest with us and supportive," Muller said. "He feels that these issues need to be addressed." Bush held a similar greeting at the White House in 2004 for Rolling Thunder. The group endorsed him in both his presidential bids.

"Our forefathers have always been very humanistic and patriotic, and we're carrying on where they left off," said Caren Cleave-land, 49, the force behind an elaborate cenotaph memorial being erected along the Cayuga-Seneca Canal to honor Civil War soldiers from both North and South. Nowadays, the underpinnings of Memorial Day are little-known to many Americans, Warren said. "We can do some re-educating of our community and others who come to visit, especially schoolchildren, to kind of re-ignite the true meaning in their hearts," she said. difference is Waterloo's commemoration was consistently observed and community-wide. Everything shut down.

That did not happen elsewhere." In 1866, people were overcome by more than just emotion. It turned out to be stiflingly hot, and Welles was felled by heat stroke severe enough to be blamed for his death 14 months later at age 47. "Poor Henry! He sacrificed his life for Memorial Day," lamented Warren. The town switched the holiday to May 30 in 1868 when Gen. John Logan, the new commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, is sued a proclamation to Union veterans designating it a day of commemoration for Civil War dead.

First known as Decoration Day First known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day expanded to an observance honoring all U.S. war dead after World War I and in 1971 was made an official national holiday to be held on the last Monday in May. Though Waterloo had a full slate of events this weekend, its official ceremony will be held on Wednesday Graves are adorned with flags and flowers and, in the evening, residents of all ages join a somber parade. BE1 bH-'MnnwpJH Complete this entry form or print an entry form from pantagraph.comgetaway and enter at any or tnese locations: Mattress warehouse bloomington: Hill Haaio I I Peace Meal Feeding the body fM- ri 1 I Bloomington; rant uepot Bloomington; Lion uiscount Bloomington; bxtreme I SO ill il i t7 Motora Bloomington; Karen's Kloset West Normal; J. Considine's Normal; City of 'lajpmmtiftmfmr--m' 11 'i Bloomington Bloomington: Nybakke Bloomington; David Davis Mansion vif ffiVfij Bloomington: Midwest Equipment Normal; Wendell Niepagen Greenhouses Bloomtngton; Don Smith Paint Bloomington; Martin's Home Furniture Bloomington MAMP ADDRESS CITY Help provide seniors with nutritious meals by filling STATE ZIP I out the form below.

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