Today is Memorial Day and should be honored on May 30th as it is supposed to. Forget 3 DAY weekends, bbq's etc those you can have everyday if you wish.

Memorial Day is to honor our brave men and women who have gone before us.
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Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920).

While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868.

It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established.



Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Bet if you asked most young people the purpose of Memorial Day...they could not tell you...
My mother always decorated graves of family members, but did not connect it to the military until older.
Doubt very much that young people understand its' true meaning.


Joy

Check out http://www.memorialamateur.com/ and see that there are those of us who do educate some of the young about the meaning and purpose of this special day.

This event which will be in its 12th year is a nationally recoginized amateur points event.

John R...

My family also had a tradition of visiting cemeteries, and placing flowers on the graves of reletives, on "Decoration Day." I don't know when I realized it had a military significance - Probably not until I read the inscription, on the statue of Gen. John Logan, in Logan Square, in Chicago.
I think, even if people didn't realize its' connection to war dead, the tradition of remembering family members was a good one. More people today are probably aware of its' military significance - The media does seem to emphisize that more now than when we were kids - but they just don't care about dead soldiers, or family members.

Thanks for the response guys.

Not surprised Duane did not respond, he never responds when it comes to Veterans.

I lost two men on 31 May 1969:

Sp4 Jerome Doll, Rifleman
Sp4 Salvadore Ruiz

So I tend to always have my own small Memorial Day on 31 May, no matter the official date.