There’s an added poignancy — a freshness — to Memorial Day observances that come shortly after the end a major war. A century ago, Memorial Day fell just six months after the end of the Great War, which, over time and after another great war, became known as World War I. It’s quite a world when you can number your global conflagrations. And World War I had been an exceedingly brutal affair, claiming the lives of nearly 117,000 American soldiers — more than half of them from illness — and an estimated 8.5 million soldiers worldwide. World War I also left the U.S. split over what the nation’s proper role on the world stage should be. The war wounds were still fresh on Memorial Day 1919, as were the passions that war engendered.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 27, 2019 11:15 UTC