Memorial Day - What's the point?

Memorial Day has come and gone, but I wanted to reflect on a couple of posts that showed up in my Facebook feed over that weekend. My goal isn't to point fingers at specific people but to explore a connection that other people seem to see but that I'm at a loss over. Here are the two status updates that I am particularly referring to:

Thanks to those who courageously sacrificed their lives for us, pointing to the ultimate sacrifice given for us, Christ on the cross."

"What a Blessing to live in the USA- May everyone have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and remember those men and women in uniform who fought to keep the Blessings coming from the Lord Jesus Christ!!!!!"

Memorial Day, as I understand it, is an American holiday, made official in 1868 by General John Logan, in which we remember those who have died in the nation's service. When I look at the Department of Veterans Affairs page on the day, I see no mention of Christ, the cross, or even Christianity. In fact, from looking at that page, one might even get the impression that this is a day to honor and remember the death of any soldier who died in the service of the United States of America, no matter what their religious affiliation and no matter what their purpose was in fighting. 

So why is it, then, that someone might think the death of an American soldier, of unknown religious affiliation (if any), in some way points "to the ultimate sacrifice given for us, Christ on the cross"? If that is the case, then isn't any death, of any sort, by any person anywhere, also pointing to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ? Or is there something about Memorial Day that makes the death more pointedly Christian that it would be otherwise?

And why is it assumed that soldiers are fighting with the united purpose of keeping "the Blessings coming from the Lord Jesus Christ!!!!!" Didn't some soldiers fight because they were drafted, or because they wanted to end slavery, or to protect their economic situation, or because they wanted to go out and "prove themselves"? Or perhaps the poster on Facebook is trying to focus on the blessings the United States enjoys with the assumption that all of those blessings are directly from Jesus. If that's the case, did Jesus need these soldiers to fight and kill other people in order to maintain a divine system of giving blessings to the nation? Couldn't he have blessed the nation without the bloodshed? 

I do want to honor those who have died in the service of this nation of which I am a part. Whether I agree with the war in which they died or not, that in no way diminishes the extent of their sacrifice. But I want to honor their death because it was the moment at which something honorable, something lovely, something marvelous ended. Every life is valuable and the end of life should always be treated with respect and honor in recognition of that which is lost. But to intimately connect death in battle with the sacrifice of Christ, or the continued blessings bestowed on a nation, seems to only diminish the death of a soldier rather than to honor it. Is a person's death only to be honored if it can point to a spiritual sacrifice? Is a person's death only to be honored if it can mean more good things for me as a citizen? I believe the answer is "no" to both of those questions.