Memorial Day History – The Meaning of Memorial Day

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There is a popular holiday coming up on Monday, so I thought I would share a little Memorial Day history with my readers. Many know that it involves the military, but just how much do you know about this holiday? To make it easier to digest, I have made some bullet points illustrate facts about the meaning of Memorial Day.

•  Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, and is seen as a day of remembrance for fallen soldiers.
• Before it had an official date, regions of the US celebrated this holiday on different days by decorating the graves of deceased soldiers.
• Memorial Day was officially proclaimed a holiday on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan. At first, only the northern states recognized the holiday.
• The previous official date for Memorial Day was May 30.
• The name of the holiday was changed to Memorial Day in 1882, but it was not declared as the official name by Federal law until 1967.
• It is now observed on the last Monday of May each year in all 50 states.
• A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00pm in each time zone’s local time.
• On Memorial Day the American flag is to be raised to the top and then slowly lowered to half-staff until noon. Then it is raised to full-staff for the rest of the day.
• By many, Memorial Day is seen as the start of Summer, while Labor Day is seen as its end.
• The Indianapolis 500 has been conducted on the Sunday before Memorial Day since 1911.

That’s it…a brief look at Memorial Day history!