in War. Veteran's Day, by comparison, is the honoring of all military service personnel including those who did not perish in War. Memorial day was first celebrated on May 30th, 1868. It was observed by placing flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers during the first national observance of the Civil War. General James Garfield gave a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which around 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.
The Southern, USA refused to honor the dead on Memorial Day until after World War I when the meaning of Memorial Day was changed from honoring just civil war dead to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war. Moina Michael came up with an idea of wearing red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers and used the money to benefit servicemen in need. Since the late 1950’s on the Thursday just before Memorial day, about 1200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.
In the year 2000, the National Moment of Remembrance Resolution passed. Establishing that at 3pm on Memorial Day all Americans are asked to voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect by pausing for a moment of silence. On Memorial Day, the flag should be at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff.
Memorial Day is Celebrated on...
May 27th, 2013
May 26th, 2014
May 25th, 2015
May 30th, 2016
May 29th, 2017
May 28th, 2018
May 27th, 2019
May 25th, 2020
May 31st, 2021
