History of Memorial Day | National Memorial Day Concert | PBS
Category: News & Politics
Via: sparty-on • last year • 18 commentsBy: National Memorial Day Concert - PBS
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
"We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue."
- James A. Garfield, May 30, 1868, Arlington National Cemetery
Originally called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who have died in service to our country. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former Union sailors and soldiers.
During that first national commemoration, former Union Gen. and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there.
This national event galvanized efforts to honor and remember fallen soldiers that began with local observances at burial grounds in several towns throughout the United States following the end of the Civil War, such as the May 1, 1865 gathering in Charleston, South Carolina organized by freed slaves to pay tribute and give proper burial to Union troops.
In 1873, New York was the first state to designate Memorial Day as a legal holiday. By the late 1800s, many more cities and communities observed Memorial Day, and several states had declared it a legal holiday.
After World War I, it became an occasion for honoring those who died in all of America's wars and was then more widely established as a national holiday throughout the United States.
In 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and established that Memorial Day was to be commemorated on the last Monday of May.
Memorial Day is commemorated at Arlington National Cemetery each year with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Traditionally, the President or Vice President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
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Enjoy your holiday weekend but never forget the reason it’s there.
Evening sparty...must have read my mind as I was not sure what Memorial Day was over there..sort of similar to our ANZAC Day..
Do you also have Remembrance Day on November 11th commemorating the end of WW1??
Lest We Forget..
G’day shona,
Yes, we call that Veterans Day in the US.
A day that honors all US Veterans.
Hope all is well on the other side of this rock!
AKA "Armistice Day." It is not the holiday that Memorial Day is.
Do they teach the battle of the Coral Sea in Australian schools? It kind of bought time for Australia and the US Navy.
Morning sparty...we have a holiday for ANZAC day April the 25th...
We don't have a holiday for Remembrance Day either but everything still stops on the 11th hour...
Morning Vic..I don't think they teach anything about the Wars these days in schools..if anything they seem to focus on WW1 as that is when the ANZAC legend was born...
Yes the battle of the Coral seas is very well know here to the older generations of Aussies..and the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur by the Japanese off Queensland.. hundreds were lost....t
They located the Centaur in 2009...and it's recognised as a War grave and protected...
Good to hear.
And that is the only reason we commemorate Memorial Day.
Photographer Catherine Leroy about to jump with the 173rd Airborne during operation “Junction City”, Vietnam, 1967 (Photograph taken by a GI and sent recently to Catherine Leroy)
Catherine was less than 5 feet tall and less than 100 lbs and 22 years old when she made history and will live forever in the hearts of the Sky Soldiers. Her weapon was a camera and guts.
This is the only combat jump in the Vietnam war.
Growing up in a small town in the mid-west, I remember the Memorial Day parade that was held every year that ended at the city park where there was a memorial to those from town who had died in war. There was a reading of the names of all who had died in battle, with poppies being strewn in front of the memorial. I was learning the trumpet as a child and as this was a small town I was good enough to be added to the high school band in the 7th grade. By the time I reached high school, I was "drafted" to play taps for military funerals for the church I went to.
Memorial Day at that time didn't mean a lot to me as I had no intimate knowledge of what it all meant, to me it meant marching in a parade and a BBQ after. it wasn't until my Sophomore year when my church held a funeral for a friend of mine (two years older) who died in Vietnam. I was lucky that my age meant that I just missed out on going to Vietnam and was also lucky that during my time in the military there were no major conflicts that could have put me in harms way. But as I grow older, the day means a lot more to me.
I am extremely thankful for those who died so that I may live. And I do my best to remember that every day.
This is for shona1,
The 5th RAR was under the operational control of the 173rd Airborne from late 1964 to 1966 and fought in many battles with the 173rd. With respect to the Aussies and Kiwi's that fought with us this was dedicated to them from the Sky Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne.
Morning...that is quite an honour for that to be done..🇦🇺🇺🇲
The system wouldn’t Fetch the pic that went the article so I picked our WW2 memorial star display. Each star represents 4048 fallen or missing in action from WW2. This pic is a little more descriptive:
Each star represents approximately 100 service members.
Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, when citizens were encouraged to go cemeteries and place flowers or other ornamentation on the graves of Civil War soldiers killed in action.
As the Civil War generation died off the commemoration was expanded to include war dead from all of America's wars.
Few folks even knew his name
But a hero yes was he
Left a boy came back a man
Still many just don't understand
About the reasons we are free
Or the tears he cried
As he said these words to me
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all
But his words are oh so clear
As they echo throughout our land
For all his friends who gave us all
Who stood the ground and took the fall
To help their fellow man
And don't forget those who died
America can't you see
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all
Think of all your liberties and recall, yes recall
Some gave all
Mad respect to all my brothers and sisters who gave their lives. Every single one of them more brave than I, or anyone paying their respects today.