This year Memorial Day will be celebrated on May 21, 2021. It is a day for all Americans to honor those lost during all conflicts starting with the Civil War up until the most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a day to honor the men and women who put on a uniform but did not get to return home to take that uniform off.
Memorial Day began as Decoration Day in 1868. General John A. Logan, a Northern Civil War veteran, made a call to the Nation to remember those lost during the Civil War. He proclaimed, “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”
For over a 100 years it was celebrated on the 30th of May. Then after a Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed by Congress in 1968, Memorial Day was deemed the last Friday of the month of May. The first Decoration Day was celebrated at the Arlington National Cemetery where the graves of 20,000 soldiers were decorated. Today, towns across America will honor military personnel who lost their lives while serving with the same honor of decorating their graves.
