Memorial Day

Welcome to our Memorial Day Page. 

Memorial Day is an annual U.S. holiday that is observed on the last Monday in May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, this holiday commemorates all the U.S. men and women who have died while serving in their country's military. It originated as a way of honoring Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, the holiday expanded to include those who had died in any war or military action. Some Americans also use Memorial Day weekend to honor family members who have passed away. 

The holiday is commonly observed with memorials and cemetery visits. A silent National Moment of Remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. On Memorial Day, it is traditional to fly the U.S. flag, also known as Old Glory, at half-mast from dawn until noon, local time. 

In addition to its role as a day of remembrance, Memorial Day is also a time for picnics, family gatherings, and sporting events. One long standing tradition on this date is the Indianapolis 500, an auto race that has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911. Most Americans view Memorial Day as the official beginning of the summer season (and Labor Day as its end). 

Memorial Day's traditional date of observance was May 30. Some people and organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to this fixed date. The VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day Address that "changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day." 

For many people, Memorial Day is just another holiday. They do not think of those Americans who died for their country. Sadly, most people probably spend more time thinking about getting caught in a Memorial Day traffic jam than they think of those Americans who died for their country. 

This page is based on a page from Wikipedia entitled Memorial Day. You can find the page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day. Wikipedia is open source. That means anyone is free to use it and alter it as long as they credit the source. Wikipedia is not copyright, it is leftright. The Memorial Day related text on this page is also leftright. You are free to use it as you like as long as you credit Aaron Teaches and Wikipedia for our authorship. This means that if you want to use this, you must include a statement crediting us and providing links to Aaron Teaches and Wikipedia.