Memorial Day: Honor and Remember

Posted on May 23, 2018

It can be easy to forget what Memorial Day is all about. Memorial Day honors people who have died while serving in the U.S. military.

Observed on the last Monday of May (Memorial Day 2018 falls on Monday, May 28). But how and when exactly did the traditional day of remembrance originate?

Here are some Memorial Day facts that you might not have known:

1. Memorial Day celebrations might have started in ancient times.
In 431 B.C., soldiers killed in the Peloponnesian War were honored with a public funeral and speech given by Greek statesman Pericles, according to History.com. This is thought to be the first communal ceremony of recognizing those who had given their life in war. Year after year, ancient Greeks and Romans hosted similar commemorations.

2. One of the first Memorial Day celebrations in the United States was by newly freed slaves on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Not long after the Civil War ended, about 1,000 freed slaves, members of the U.S. Colored Troops, and some locals organized a ceremony to bury Union troops who died due to horrendous conditions of a prison created at what was once a racetrack. They honored the dead by singing hymns and placing flowers on their graves. An archway over the cemetery was engraved with the words “Martyrs of the Race Course,” according to The New York Times.

3. The observance was originally known as Decoration Day.
By the late 1860s, many Americans had begun hosting tributes to the war’s fallen soldiers by decorating their graves and with flowers and flags. It gradually came to be known as Memorial Day over the years.

4. It was Union General John A. Logan who called for an official nationwide day of remembrance on May 30, 1868, a date chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of a particular battle.
In the aftermath of World War I, the holiday evolved to commemorate fallen military personnel in all wars.

5. In 1950, Congress passed a resolution requesting that the President issue a proclamation calling on Americans to observe Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace.
In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May, in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. But Memorial Day didn’t actually become an official federal holiday until 1971.

6. In 1966, Waterloo, New York was officially declared the originator of Memorial Day.
Many places in the U.S. claim to be the first to celebrate Memorial Day, but there’s only one small town officially identified as the birthplace. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation stating that Waterloo, New York, is the originator of Memorial Day in the U.S. The town first observed a day to remember fallen soldiers on May 5, 1866.

7. President Bill Clinton signed the National Moment of Remembrance Act in 2000, which asks Americans to pause and observe a National Moment of Remembrance at 3:00 p.m. local time.
A number of organizations throughout the country observe this moment, including Amtrak (whose trains blast their whistles), Major League Baseball, and NASCAR.

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