We are approaching the last Monday in May. Why is that important? It is important because it is Memorial Day. A day to remember the fallen soldiers.
Memorial Day was originally know as Decoration Day. It was a way for both the North and the South to publicly mourn their fallen soldiers. There are many southern cities that claim to have started the holiday, as that’s where the most graves were.
One story maintains that, in late April of 1866, a group of Mississippi women went to decorate the graves of soldiers who had died in the Battle of Shiloh. When they arrived, they found the Confederate graves well cared for, in stark contrast to the nearby graves of Union soldiers, which were bare and unkempt. Saddened, the women placed their flowers on the Union graves, too. (https://www.airforcetimes.com/veterans/military-history/2019/05/27/the-real-history-of-memorial-day/)
In May 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic declared May 30th Decoration Day. The order was given to decorate the graves with flowers.
“Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic,” said Maj. Gen. John A. Logan.
Ulysses S. Grant led the first major organized ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. After the speeches the Grand Army of the Republic took orphans around to place flowers on the graves.
In 1971, Memorial Day became a federal holiday to honor all fallen service members. At 3pm local time Americans are asked to bow their heads in a moment of silence to honor those who sacrificed all for our wonderful nation.
So while you spend your extended weekend with family and friends, please remember to stop and give a moment of silence. These fallen men and women are the ones who have sacrificed their lives so you have the freedoms you have.
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