05-15-2020, 01:26 PM
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last
Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while
serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2020 occurs on
Monday, May 25.
Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years
following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday
in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting
cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and
participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning
of the summer season.
Early Observances of Memorial Day
The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed
more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the
establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.
By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities
had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless
fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and
reciting prayers.
It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous
different communities may have independently initiated the
memorial gatherings. And some records show that one of
the earliest Memorial Day commemoration was organized by
a group of freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina less
than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865.
Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared
Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was
chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event,
during which businesses closed and residents decorated the
graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
Decoration Day
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization
for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of
remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is
designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise
decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their
country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in
almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,”
he proclaimed.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because
it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a
speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants
decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate
soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and
reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one
had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states,
on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate
days until after World War I.
Confederate Memorial Day is still celebrated in several states
and will be on Sunday, April 26, 2020 in Florida; on
Monday, April 27, 2020 in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi
and on May 11, 2020, in parts of South Carolina. The practice
of commemorating the Confederacy became even more
controversial after massacre at Emanuel AME Church in
Charleston in 2015
History of Memorial Day
Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known,
originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War.
But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled
in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate
American military personnel who died in all wars,
including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30,
the date Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in
1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which
established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to
create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change
went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared
Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Memorial Day Traditions
Cities and towns across the United States host Memorial Day
parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and
members of veterans’ organizations. Some of the largest
parades take place in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.
Americans also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries
and memorials. Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance
of those fallen in war—a tradition that began with a World War I poem.
On a less somber note, many people take weekend trips or
throw parties and barbecues on the holiday, perhaps because
Memorial Day weekend—the long weekend comprising the
Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day and
Memorial Day itself—unofficially marks the beginning of summer.
Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last
Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while
serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2020 occurs on
Monday, May 25.
Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years
following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday
in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting
cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and
participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning
of the summer season.
Early Observances of Memorial Day
The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed
more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the
establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.
By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities
had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless
fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and
reciting prayers.
It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous
different communities may have independently initiated the
memorial gatherings. And some records show that one of
the earliest Memorial Day commemoration was organized by
a group of freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina less
than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865.
Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared
Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was
chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event,
during which businesses closed and residents decorated the
graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
Decoration Day
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization
for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of
remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is
designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise
decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their
country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in
almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,”
he proclaimed.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because
it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a
speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants
decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate
soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and
reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one
had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states,
on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate
days until after World War I.
Confederate Memorial Day is still celebrated in several states
and will be on Sunday, April 26, 2020 in Florida; on
Monday, April 27, 2020 in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi
and on May 11, 2020, in parts of South Carolina. The practice
of commemorating the Confederacy became even more
controversial after massacre at Emanuel AME Church in
Charleston in 2015
History of Memorial Day
Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known,
originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War.
But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled
in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate
American military personnel who died in all wars,
including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30,
the date Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in
1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which
established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to
create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change
went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared
Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Memorial Day Traditions
Cities and towns across the United States host Memorial Day
parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and
members of veterans’ organizations. Some of the largest
parades take place in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.
Americans also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries
and memorials. Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance
of those fallen in war—a tradition that began with a World War I poem.
On a less somber note, many people take weekend trips or
throw parties and barbecues on the holiday, perhaps because
Memorial Day weekend—the long weekend comprising the
Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day and
Memorial Day itself—unofficially marks the beginning of summer.
Semper Fidelis
USMC
USMC
Nemo me impune lacessit