b'Soldiers from the U.S. Army 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), along with service members from all armed forces service branches, place over 265,000 U.S. flags at every gravesite, columbarium court column, and niche wall column as part of Flags-In at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 27, 2021. Photo by: Elizabeth Fraser, ArmyThe Origins of Memorial DayU.S. Department of Veterans Affairshttps://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/memday.pdfThe Origins of Memorial Day A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on the head of an organization of Union veteransthe GrandApril 29, 1866. Army of the Republic (GAR)established Decoration DayCarbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the warApproximately 25 places have been named in connection dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared it shouldwith the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South be May 30. It is believed the date was chosen because flowerswhere most of the war dead were buried.would be in bloom all over the country. Official Birthplace DeclaredThe first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River fromIn 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Washington, D.C. The ceremonies centered around theWaterloo, N.Y., the birthplace of Memorial Day. There, a mourning- draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washingtonfought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presidedflew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloos claim say over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from theearlier observances in other places were either informal, Soldiers and Sailors Orphan Home and members of thenot community- wide or one-time events. By the end of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers andon May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed singing hymns. proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy Local Observances Claim To Be First adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities. It was not until after World War I, however, that the day Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead alreadywas expanded to honor those who have died in all American had been held in various places. One of the first occurred inwars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of womenholiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of ConfederateDecoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were thein May, as were some other federal holidays.graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the womenSome States Have Confederate Observancesplaced some of their flowers on those graves, as well. Today,Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace ofthe Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claimMemorial Day on the last Monday of April, Alabama on the the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa.,fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26. North and claims it began there two years earlier.South Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and 32 Military Appreciation Resource Magazine Thank You For Your Service'