American Flags on graves of soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.Recently I was asked by a blogger about the U. S. holiday we call Memorial Day. I located a photo of Arlington National Cemetery & an article about this special day on Wikipedia (click on the link to see the article). Because this is a U. S. federal holiday government offices, schools, the mail, & some businesses close on the Monday of this 3-day weekend. Unofficially this has become the long weekend that begins summer for us. Schools close for the summer soon after Memorial Day. Even though there are fun festivities surrounding this holiday we all remember the significance of it and remember the many U. S. soldiers who have died for our freedom.
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the Civil War), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.
5 comments:
Thanks for explaining.
It's a name that is so familiar to me - I guess I just hadn't stopped and thought about it.
I visited Arlington in 1984 and found it very moving.
Our equivalent is Anzac Day. Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
Lest we Forget.xx♥
My granfather nad grandmother are buried at Arlington. I will never forget sitting at my grandfather's funeral, complete ith flag-draped coffin, riderless horse and 21-gun salute, and being keenly aware of the tourists who were watching from a distance and snapping pictures. It gave me a sense of how a military funeral was both a private and a public event.
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Our day is called Remberance day and is on the Sunday closest to the 11th November. Although increasingly people are having a two minute silence on the 11th itself. As in the Eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the guns stopped in 1918
Important to remember in any nationality the sacrifice they made for us to lead the lives we do now.
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