via NationalDayCalendar:
Memorial Day, a United States Federal holiday, is observed each year on the last Monday in May. This day is in honor and remembrance of all men and woman who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
Memorial Day is also a day to remember all loved ones that have passed away.
Traditionally on Memorial Day, the flag of the United States of America is raised briskly to the top of the staff then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position where it remains until noon. At noon, it is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day.
When the flag is at half-staff, the position is in remembrance of the more than one million men and women who gave their lives for their country. Raising the flag at noon signifies the nation lives, that the country is resolved not to let their sacrifice be in vain but to rise up in their honor and continue to fight for liberty and justice for all.
Memorial Day is known to mark the beginning of summer.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Attend Memorial Day services in your community. In your own way, pay tribute in remembrance of service members who have died while serving. Use #MemorialDay to post on social media.
HISTORY
Honoring the men and women who have died while serving in the military, Memorial Day has been kept in various forms in the United States since the end of the Civil War. General John Logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance on May 5, 1868. On May 30 Decoration Day was first observed.
General James Garfield spoke at Arlington National Cemetery. Generals Grant, Howard, Logan, Pane, Wool, and Hancock attended the ceremony, and volunteers decorated the graves of 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.
Across the country, humble tributes occurred on that first Decoration Day. Just outside Fort Stevens near Washington, D.C., there was a small cemetery where 40 soldiers were buried, one of whom belonged to a widow from Northern Vermont. He was one of three sons she lost to the war. On Decoration Day, she went to the cemetery carrying 40 wreaths for 40 graves.
Someone placed a laurel wreath upon the head of a Lincoln statue at City Hall, Washington D.C.
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