Latest / Closing Market Report / May 25 | Memorial Day
Transcript
- cmr260525 In this special Memorial Day edition of the Closing Market Report, host Todd Gleason guides listeners through an auditory journey honoring fallen service members and highlighting historical preservation. The broadcast opens by tracing the origins of Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, and emphasizing the National Moment of Remembrance. It then shifts to Ypres, Belgium, to explore the moving nightly "Last Post" ceremony at the Menin Gate, which has commemorated World War I casualties since 1929. Finally, the program returns to the United States to showcase the J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator and Museum in Atlanta, Illinois, detailing the community-led restoration of this 1904 agricultural landmark and its significance to early 20th-century farming. - A History of Memorial Day in the United States - Pause and Remember the Fallen at 3pm - The Menin Gate Last Post in Ypers, Belgium - J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator and Museum in Atlanta, Illinois Todd Gleason: From the land-grant university in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, this is a special Memorial Day edition of the Closing Market Report. I'm University of Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. I like to travel, so throughout the day today, we'll visit some interesting places across the planet. And, of course, we'll take a moment to honor the war dead—those who have fallen in service of the United States of America. Our travels will take us to Europe, and we'll be in Ypres, Belgium. Then we'll come back to Atlanta, Illinois. In Ypres, we'll visit the Last Post that has been blowing there since 1929 each and every evening, no matter how many people are at the Menin Gate or what the weather might be. The folks there gather to honor those who served the globe and fought in World War I. Then we'll make that trip back here to Atlanta, Illinois, to visit a really cool grain elevator. If you have not taken time to make the drive to Atlanta, that's in Logan County, Illinois, between Springfield and Bloomington, and you'll find it right there on Interstate 55—Historic Route 66, if you prefer to travel the Mother Road. We'll visit there and tell you all about how that historic landmark was brought back up to working standards so that it could be a showplace for people to see how grain elevators used to work and the reasons they were located along railroads. We'll do that right here on this Memorial Day edition of the Closing Market Report from Illinois Public Media. Announcer: Todd Gleason's services are made available to WILL by University of Illinois Extension. Todd Gleason: It's Memorial Day. You're listening to the Closing Market Report from Illinois Public Media. I'm University of Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. 01:40 A History of Memorial Day in the United States Todd Gleason: Today we set aside as a nation a time to remember and honor those who have fallen in service of the United States. Memorial Day began, by the way, as Decoration Day, just three years after the Civil War ended. That's when the head of the organization of Union Veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic, established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Major General John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30th. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. A stone in a Carbondale, Illinois, cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. It makes some sense; Carbondale was the wartime home of General Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South, where most of the Civil War dead were buried. However, the official birthplace was declared in 1966. Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, New York, the birthplace of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. It wasn't until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May. 03:20 Pause and Remember the Fallen at 3pm Todd Gleason: To ensure the sacrifices of America's fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed, and the president signed into law, the National Moment of Remembrance Act. The act encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3:00 PM local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. 04:47 The Menin Gate Last Post in Ypers, Belgium Todd Gleason: Now, let me take you to a different war memorial, but one that I think will move you. America entered both the First and Second World Wars reluctantly, but decisively. There are American cemeteries throughout Europe. I've personally been to several, including the one outside of Luxembourg where General Patton is buried. These are pastoral and moving places. Please visit them if you go to Europe. I might also suggest you make a trip to Belgium to see a different kind of tribute to the war dead. I was there at the turn of the century with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Illinois Business Immersion Program and produced this story. Every evening since November 11, 1929, the people of Ypres, Belgium, have blown a Last Post for the men who died during World War I. That is sometimes called the Great War. At eight o'clock, the bugle corps in dress uniform assembles to pay homage, no matter the weather or the crowd. Todd Gleason: The village of Ypres was destroyed in the Great War, but Belgium was freed from Germany. From 1914 to 1918, more than 250,000 servicemen of the then-British Empire lost their lives. Many of these brave soldiers, not only from Great Britain but also from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and many other lands, lie buried in the 154 war cemeteries which surround modern-day Ypres. A further 100,000 still have no known grave. Of these, 54,896 are commemorated by name on the Menin Gate along the city wall of Ypres. Every evening since 1928, the Last Post has been sounded beneath the great concrete arches of the Menin Gate. This tribute is played in honor of the men who fought and died at Ypres during the First World War. Menin Gate Honor Guard: These men have been chosen because their lives and deaths can tell us something about a terrible conflict in which they were involved, a conflict which shaped the course of the 20th century and which still has an influence on all our lives even today. These stories are stories of mud and blood, of unspeakable suffering and limitless human endurance. However, they are also stories of courage and devotion to duty, of comradeship and self-sacrifice. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. Derrick Holliday: My uncle is buried out here somewhere. He was my father's favorite brother. My son is named after him. Todd Gleason: Derrick Holliday and his wife Myrtle are from Lincolnshire, England. They came to Ypres to watch the buglers blow the Last Post. Derrick Holliday has been trying to make his way to the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, to see the Last Post ceremony for several years. It took an emotional toll on him and his wife, Myrtle. They are eternally grateful for what their ancestors did for them during the two World Wars. They are also a bit fearful that the younger generations will not understand the magnitude of the sacrifice. Derrick Holliday: I don't know whether the younger generation—because they haven't been at war for 55 years, except for the minor ones—I don't suppose it's got the same impact. Todd Gleason: "A conflict which shaped the course of the 20th century and which still has an influence on all our lives even today." That single line read during the nightly Last Post seems to suggest the difference between the generations. The Hollidays remember the terrible consequences of war. Later generations live with the legacy of the wars, like the economic union of Europe. Rudolfo Hirsch came to Europe to learn about both. He is a master's student in agricultural economics at the University of Illinois and came to Belgium along with 24 other young scholars on a class assignment. The mix of history and lectures over the two-week period left him with a new perspective on the world. Rudolfo Hirsch: It was quite interesting to realize how difficult it is to have even the unification of Europe. Sometime ago, their fathers were killing each other, and now they need to work together in the same language. I now realize how difficult it is to get Europe unified. Todd Gleason: Hirsch is from Sao Paulo, Brazil. The lessons he is learning while in Europe with the U of I, he says, will influence the decisions he makes during his agricultural career. He hopes to work for ADM, Cargill, or Bunge in the future, buying and selling grain into the world market. The lessons learned through his classwork under the direction of U of I's Hamish Gow show Hirsch a glimpse of how Europe is organized and why it's tied together economically, if not always culturally. The internal barriers here are deep. Germany still scares some. England stands as the one-time empire builder, and France, the cultural maven. They are separate nations, separate cultures, bound together by common economic interests and history. Europe, the union, balances these competing interests, but it isn't often understood why. The U of I students have a better chance at contemplating this sometimes fragile relationship. In Ypres, Belgium, I'm Todd Gleason. Todd Gleason: You're listening to the Closing Market Report from Illinois Public Media. On this Monday afternoon, it's Memorial Day. Don't forget you can visit our website at willag.org and listen to our programming on-demand anytime you'd like, including the Closing Market Report and Commodity Week. Or, if you'd prefer, you can always find us in your favorite podcast applications. Just search for either of those programs or you can visit the website, willag.org, scroll down the page, and you'll find links for podcast applications like Stitcher, SoundCloud, NPR One, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. However you listen to us, thank you so much for taking your time and spending it with us here at Illinois Public Media. Our programming is a co-production of Illinois Public Media and University of Illinois Extension. 13:14 J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator and Museum in Atlanta, Illinois Todd Gleason: What do you say we continue our travels now, because it is the beginning of summer and you'll be looking for places to go. Europe might not be on your list, but there are things that are a lot closer to home. In fact, right there in Atlanta, Illinois, there's a grain elevator that was built back in 1904. It was closed in the mid-1970s. But in the mid-1990s, the townsfolk decided to save that aging building. Now it's on the Registry of Historical Places in the United States. Paul A. Adams: I'm Paul A. Adams from Atlanta, Illinois. In about 1869, this east-west alignment of a railroad that extended from Terre Haute to Peoria was under construction. The promoters pointed out: why should these farmers around Atlanta be shipping their grain to Chicago and then transporting it back down to Peoria, Illinois, to be processed at the mills? This building is a little bit unique in that in the early 1900s, there was a transition to trying to handle grains more in a bulk medium instead of sacking it up and handling it so much. This was a mechanization of the handling of grain. Farmers normally stored their ear corn along in January and February of the year when the corn had dried out some in the cribs. It was possible to shell the corn and deliver it to central elevators such as this for transshipment to Decatur, Chicago, Peoria, and places like that. I think one of the things that we don't quite remember clearly is that not many people stored grain in elevators at that time like they do now. When the corn was harvested in the ear, it was probably 20 to 22% moisture, and the only way we had to dry it out was to put it in ear corn cribs. The air flowing through the ear corn cribs dried the grain down sufficiently to get to a 15-16% moisture level. At that level, it was possible to bring grain in and hold it a little bit in storage. But primarily, these elevators were a transfer point from the farm to the processor, which meant we brought it into an elevator, loaded it in a boxcar, and moved it on. Structurally inside, this is built to standard. If you were going to pull it over, it'd probably just fall over in one big piece. Marge Coleman: Dean May was one of the first ones that really wanted to save this elevator. The town was going to burn it down for a fire training project. A group of us got together, and we decided to form an organization, the Atlanta Historical Preservation Council. We did save the elevator. The city gave us the elevator because it had come to them. Eventually, we were able to get a grant. It was a matching grant. We went out, solicited the people, and they helped us. We got very little money from big organizations. We really appreciate what the people did because we couldn't start out other places if we couldn't get the people behind us. They have been behind us. Eventually, we were able to get it on the National Historic Preservation Registry. We're very proud of that, and that didn't take very long. Our first checks were written in 1991, and by 1999, we had rededicated this elevator. Marge Coleman: The engine came from the Eminence Grain and Coal Company, which is about three and a half, four miles out of town. It was restored by Dean May. He put it back in really wonderful condition. That's how it got here. A lot of volunteer work has gone in. The bricks in the engine building were all cleaned by volunteers on cold days. We've had a lot of people volunteer their help laying bricks, carrying mortar, and fixing windows. We have tried to keep it as historically accurate as possible. Paul A. Adams: We enjoy showing people how it used to be done. Somewhere between primitive and modern-day, it was done through houses like this. We stopped on the scale platform with the load originally, and after they weighed and teared the scale house, they'd drive on up in here, stop on the dump logs, tip it, run the load down into the pit, into the leg, up into the bin. The scales came from out in the country. I was riding my bike in the morning downtown, and there were four people walking around. I had a feeling they were from here, and I stopped and visited with them. To make a long story short, we came over in the afternoon, and the scales in the scale house were from a farm out in the country. They didn't know their dad very well because their parents had divorced. When they looked down in the scales, there was their dad's name with grain that he had brought to that farmer. He had kept all the lists of grain and the weights. I soon saw tears in their eyes. Marge Coleman: When City Hall and the library are open, you can always get someone there to call one of us who has a key to open it and show you around. It's always open during June, July, and August on Sunday afternoons from 1:00 to 3:00. But if anybody comes through, most people in town know who to call to get the elevator open. I ride my bike around a lot, and I've gone home and gotten the key many times and brought people down here. I've had a wonderful time showing the elevator. Todd Gleason: Here are a few facts and figures about the machinery in the Atlanta, Illinois, J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator and Museum. That old gas engine that operates the elevator runs at 400 RPM and puts out 10 horsepower. The pulley system inside the building is driven by a single rope. It is 280 feet long, and the total capacity of the elevator is 29,000 bushels. Our story comes to you each and every year by permission of Marge and James Coleman and Paul A. Adams. Announcer: Todd Gleason's services are made available to WILL by University of Illinois Extension. Todd Gleason: I truly hope you have had a great Memorial Day and spent it with your family, and I look forward to talking to you the rest of the week about the commodity markets. You can always check those out on our website at willag.org. There you'll find our daily programming, this program, the Closing Market Report, our weekly program, Commodity Week, and information from the agricultural economists, crop scientists, and animal scientists here on the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. It's all at willag.org. I'm University of Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason.