US Edition
History of a Holiday
- Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States that takes place on the final Monday in May each year to honor military personnel who have died in service.
- The holiday began following the American Civil War, which resulted in the deaths of over 600,000 soldiers from both the Union and Confederate armies between 1861 and 1865.
- One of the earliest commemorations took place in early May 1865 in Charleston, where a predominantly Black crowd of up to 10,000 people held a parade and ceremonies to honor and dedicate the burial site of 257 Union soldiers interred together in a mass grave.
- In 1868, John A. Logan, leader of a Union veterans’ group, issued a directive designating May 30 as the first nationwide Memorial Day to honor fallen soldiers by decorating their graves.
- Memorial Day has since become associated with leisure, travel, and sales, which has prompted calls to remember its original solemn purpose of mourning fallen service members.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Google: Yes, Memorial Day Is Important, But Here’s Why It’s ‘Controversial’
Memorial Day may mean different things to Americans. A solemn day to honor fallen soldiers? Naturally. The unofficial start of summer? Why not. A racist holiday steeped in controversy? Bingo—at least if you ask Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini. The chatbot smeared Memorial Day as controversial in response to an MRC Free Speech America prompt designed to test for potential bias within Google’s systems. “Is Memorial Day controversial?” MRC specificall…
Lincoln Journal Star
Glens Falls Post-StarHistory of a holiday
Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.
Our Man In Arlington 5-22-2025 - Falls Church News
May is a busy month, full of proclamations honoring numerous causes, ranging from National Maritime Day to Law Day. The most celebrated “day” in May is Memorial Day, which started with a different name: Decoration Day. In 1868, the organization of Union veterans, known as the Grand Army of the Republic, established “Decoration Day” as
Memorial Day evolves from mourning the fallen to summer kickoff
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday that’s supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of travel and discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers. Iraq War veteran Edmundo Eugenio Martinez Jr. said the day has lost so much meaning that many Americans “conflate and mix up Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day, July Fourth…
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