Most people associate Memorial Day as a day to spend with family and friends. Monday, May 27th. Although, today, it is celebrated as a federal holiday (or that all businesses and schools are closed), It hasn’t always been that way. In this article, we will discover how Memorial Day was born, popularized, and celebrated.
In 1865, the American Civil War was declared over, taking between 620,000 and 750,000 American soldier’s lives. This event led to “decorated” soldiers that had fallen receiving flowers posthumously to remember the sacrifices they made for our country and the freedom of others, a tradition since the Classical Roman Times.
Fast forward to May 5th, 1868 General John A. Logan addressed General Orders Issue 11 also known as a “Memorial Day Act”, the day where the soldier’s that protected our country, will not be forgotten, cherished and remembered\. Making “Decoration Day” named “Memorial Day”.
The first national Memorial Day was May 30th, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, which was a former home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. about 11,350 white and black Union Soldiers, 350 Confederate Soldiers and 2,111 unknown soldiers were buried. The event included playing the “Star Spangled Banner”, prayers, dirges, hymns, speeches, and placing flowers and flags on Veterans’ graves. But, it was only recognized by mostly northern states, with southern states celebrating their “Memorial Day” on other days.
After many, many years, in 1918, another major war was declared over: World War 1. Known as the “war to end all wars”, there were about 100 countries participating, 400,000,000 lives lost, 116,000 American lives lost, and 1 big mess. After the war, all (at the time) 48 states recognized Memorial Day, as this was a sad, tragic event that impacted many people across the US. Because of this, Memorial day was used to celebrate all military who died not only in the US, but also American lives lost fighting for their country in a foreign land.
After that, many other tragic wars, such as World War 2, that took 400,000 lives, the Korean War, with 36,000 lives lost, and the Vietnam War, with 58,220 lives. This became more of a reason to celebrate Memorial Day with all the tragedies suffered by American citizens protecting freedom and democracy. This also led U.S. legislation to make Memorial Day a federal holiday to be observed by the people.
You might think that Memorial Day is the only holiday of its kind, but other countries have their version of it. For example, In the UK, there is Remembrance Day, or Poppy Day, which marks the armistice between the Allies and Germany after World War 1. Russia has Victory Day, which marks the victory over Germany in World War 2, Australia and New Zealand have Anzac Day which remembers Australian and Kiwi (New Zealand) forces in World War 1, the Netherlands have Dodenherdenking which remembers Dutch forces in World War 1 and more!
Now that you learned more about Memorial Day, I hope you can look at it with a different perspective than just a free Monday off. Thanks for reading and have a happy Memorial Day!
Sources:
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, National Cemetery Association (https://www.cem.va.gov/history/Memorial-Day-History.asp)
usnews.com https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/slideshows/6-countries-around-the-world-with-their-own-memorial-day