Memorial Day is well celebrated across the nation, acknowledging the U.S. soldiers who fell in battle. This Federal holiday started in the late 1860s after the American Civil War. The Civil War claimed the most lives in U.S. history, and as such, American cities and towns began holding tribute to the fallen soldiers.
In May of 1868, General John Logan, a leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide Decoration Day in which fallen soldiers were honored in Arlington National Cemetery, the country’s first national cemetery. Five thousand participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there.
Decoration Day came to be known as Memorial Day as the holiday evolved to honor not just Civil War soldiers but World War 1 and all other subsequent wars. Memorial Day was officially slated to be observed on the last Monday of May in 1968 when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This Memorial Day, take the time to pay respects to those who lost their lives to war. ■
Source: The US Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum
