Memorial Day is a day dedicated to honoring U.S. military personnel who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
Over 1.3 Million Americans paid the ultimate sacrifice for their nation—for our nation.
This from history.com and cem.va.gov.
“That Nation which respects and honors its dead, shall ever be respected and honored itself.”
– Brevet Lieut.-Col. Edmund B. Whitman, 1868
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.
He proclaimed:
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.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle [and because flowers would be in bloom nationwide, the VA website wrote].
In the waning years of the Civil War (1861–1865) and immediately afterward, communities in the North and South, Black and White, decorated soldiers’ graves with floral honors on springtime “decoration days.” The practice of strewing flowers on graves has been documented from Classical Roman times to western Europe in the nineteenth century.
Decoration Day 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 I, World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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 commemorations was organized by a group of formerly enslaved people 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.
In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday, placing it as the last Monday in May. According to the VA, the day was expanded to honor all those who have died in American wars.
Congress in December 2000 passed and the president signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,” to ensure those who sacrificed their lives for the country were not forgotten.
At 3:00 p.m. local time, Americans are asked to take part in the National Moment of Remembrance, a time to pause in a moment of silence to honor those who have died serving the U.S.
