Published: May 27, 2009 04:22 pm      

Why we celebrate Memorial Day

Even small children know why we celebrate Thanksgiving. And almost everyone can explain the real reason Christmas is set aside as a holiday. One would be hard pressed to find Americans who don’t know why we celebrate the Fourth of July.

But there are some holidays that come around for which people sometimes forget the reason for their commemoration. Sadly, Memorial Day often falls into this category.

According to historians, Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and was intended as a time of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. No one is quite sure exactly how it began. Over two dozen cities claim to have been the point of origin, but in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson officially designated Waterloo, New York as its birthplace.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and was first observed on May 30, 1868. On that day flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Only after World War I did the South acknowledge the day, at which time the holiday changed from honoring only those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who had died fighting in any war. In 1971 Congress passed the National Holiday Act, which proclaimed the last Monday in May as the official day of commemoration to ensure a three-day weekend for federal employees as well as private businesses who observed it.

The Ada Evening News is one of those. Hopefully, if you work with a privately owned business, you too have tomorrow off. We encourage you to give thought to the reason your boss gave you a holiday. It was nothing less than the blood of those who died serving and fighting to ensure the freedom we often take for granted.