Memorial Day

I remember about 15 years ago, a newspaper reporter randomly asked me what the meaning of Memorial Day was for me. I responded it was a time for honoring our military. My family usually spent the weekend camping or barbequing with friends. I remembered I did not go into details about honoring the military even though my husband Tom was active duty in the Army at that time. The reporter was surprised that we did not attend any military functions, such as the parades or events on the military post. Needless to say, my comment on what the meaning of Memorial Day was not selected for the newspaper that week. I did get selected for answering several other random questions, but sometimes wondered if I missed the whole purpose of Memorial Day.

What does Memorial Day actually mean according to history? What if we look up Memorial Day on the web or Google: what would it definition of the holiday be? Memorial Day is an important holiday for honoring the country’s deceased service members. Congress made Memorial Day a federal holiday in 1971; even though it was original know as Decoration Day. On May 30th 1868, General Logan named the holiday Decoration Day for all the fallen soldiers in the Civil War; the bloodiest United States War. Almost every family in the United States lost one family member to this war. The idea was to give families time to visit cemeteries to place flowers or other tokens for these soldiers. Many towns and cities held a parade or memorial service for fallen soldiers during the year, especially during World War I and II. Those soldiers gave their lives to protect our rights as United States Citizens. In 1968, Congress moved Decoration Day to the last Monday in May. I find it ironic that the History Channel website also mentioned Memorial Day is the unofficial holiday to mark the beginning of summer. Many Americans believe it is the official start of summer and school will be or is out for the summer.

My point of this post is to remember the true meaning of Memorial Day; honoring the soldiers who gave their lives for this country. In my family, I lost two members in World War II.