What’s the meaning of Memorial Day?

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — Each year American’s set aside a day to honor and remember those who gave their lives in service of the country.

Memorial Day is held annually on the last Monday of May. This tradition is the nation’s foremost annual day to mourn and honor its deceased service men and women.

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, the day was originally called Decoration Day, it was formalized by a “Memorial Day Order” issued by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868.

The event asks Americans to observe Memorial Day by praying, according to their individual religious faith, for permanent peace.

The nation’s tradition began following the years of the Civil War. Black and White mourners would go to the graves if fallen loved ones and leave flowers in the spring time. This became known as “decoration days”.

Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Edmund B. Whitman in 1868 said, “That Nation which respects and honors its dead, shall ever be respected and honored itself.”

According to sources, on May 5, 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic, a politically powerful organization of Union veterans issued the “Memorial Day Act.” This act formally established Memorial Day as a Decoration Day on which the nation would remember its war dead and decorate their graves with flowers in honor of those who died in the Civil War.

The roots of the first Memorial Day is right here in the Magnolia State. There are some accounts that the first Memorial Day service was held in 1866 in Columbus, Miss.

After World War I, the event was expanded to honor those who died in all American wars. 

U.S. citizens are asked to give “back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging Memorial Day activities.