by Stephen Cook

Created on: May 28, 2010

Memorial Day comes around every year on the last Monday in May, and sadly quite a few people in America just view Memorial Day as a day off from work to relax and have fun.  However, these people are missing the entire point of what Memorial Day is.  Memorial Day is a day that is set aside for the remembrance of the brave men and women who died and served for our country in service.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day.  Memorial Day was first officially announced on May 5, 1868 and was then first observed on May 30, 1868.  General John A. Logan, the man who first proclaimed Memorial Day, said "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 and during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit."

New York was the first state that officially recognized the holiday.  After New York recognized Memorial Day in 1873, it was then eventually recognized by all the northern states in 1890.  The South did not recognize the holiday until after World War I and honored their dead in various ways until then.

In the year 1882, the name of the holiday was changed from "Declaration Day" to "Memorial Day".  In 1966, Waterloo, New York was declared by Lyndon Johnson and Congress to the "birthplace" of Memorial Day.  Then, in 1971, Memorial Day was declared by Richard Nixon and passed by Congress to be a federal holiday observed on the last Monday in May.

This Memorial Day, instead of focusing on with whom you will be spending the day with to play golf or have a barbecue, think about those who gave their lives for their country so that we could have the freedom to live in the United States.  If we were not free - if those men and women hadn't given their lives for their country, then we would not be able to play golf or barbecue.  In fact, we might not even be alive if they hadn't protected us and our country.  This year make the most of the holiday and remember those who died fighting for the United States of America.

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