Fun Fact #323 The G.A.R.

 Fun Fact #323

The G.A.R.

If you’ve ever wandered through the older parks in the US you may have seen the letters GAR engraved on a wall or fountain. Those three letters were left by the largest and most powerful veteran’s group in American history: The Grand Army of the Republic. Founded in Decanter, Illinois: The GAR run by Union Veterans of The Civil War, and are primarily remembered for having elected 6 US presidents. Yet this is a shame because it is often forgotten that they were the first group to hold a memorial for fallen veterans on a yearly basis (May 30th). They also got pensions instituted for veterans, pushed for both Women’s and African Americans rights, and funded public works. 

Another thing they created were Veterans Memorial Halls to memorialize the fallen, and organize local aid. The very first of these was put in Rockford Illinois, (No. 1) and Rockford has another 26 GAR locations (ThatI’m aware of anyway) though many have fallen into disrepair. THe last time it made international news was in 1956 when Its last member died, but it caught the eye of George Lucas, who later used the name in The Star Wars Prequels for the loyalist forces in the Galactic Civil war.  

If you go looking for Gar Monuments, then try searching near WW2 memorials as many of them started out as GAR parks. Once they were repurposed, the GAR monuments were commonly moved aside where they lay largely unnoticed.  

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” -- Arthur Ashe