4 things you may not have known about Memorial Day

Every year on the last Monday in May, we as a nation, honor those who served in the U.S. Military.  This hasn’t always been the case.  So how did Memorial Day come to be?  In this article we’ll look into that and a few other things you may not have known about Memorial Day.

1. Waterloo, New York is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day.  On May 5th 1866, Waterloo hosted what was to become an annual event.  Community-wide, businesses would close and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
2. Originally Memorial Day was known ad Decoration Day.  On May 5th 1868, General John A. Logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance on the 30th of May for the purpose of strewing flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of soldiers who died in the recent Civil War.
3. May 30th was picked because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
4. In 1971 the federal government declared the last Monday in May to be Memorial Day.  This was to give federal employees a three day weekend.

We want to thank all those who have served in the United States Military.