It was after the Civil War that America first instituted Decoration Day which later became Memorial Day. By whatever name, the holiday commemorates the memory of those who died in military service.

The fact that the holiday was first established to recognize the soldiers of the Union army is of great interest…because it allows me to expand further on the role of the Irish in American history.

Becoming an American Under Fire is a book that chronicles how the immigrant Irish and American-Africans who fought in the Civil War helped promote the status of their own people.

For blacks fighting in the Civil War, it was gaining respect from the general population and gaining access to civil rights in the army’s judicial system. For the Irish immigrants, it was baptism by fire as their ideals of a republic were realized, if not for Ireland, then for their adopted home, America.

While Africans were dragged from their homeland, and the Irish forced off their homeland, both peoples overcame enormous prejudice and hardship to build the American Dream. The Irish reached a new milestone with the election of John F. Kennedy, and now the election of Barak Obama visits the same honor on those of African descent.

No where else in the world do people from so many different nations mix and prosper in peace. In America, people rise from any station, any race, any creed, and either sex, and pursue their dreams, pursue their happiness.

None of this would be possible, and none of it is secure, without the dedication and sacrifice of those who serve their country.

This Memorial Day, raise a toast to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, a toast of thanks to those we’ll meet again on the other side.  Here’s a toast from 1879 by Col. Robert Ingersoll , originally printed in the NYT in that year.