Monday, May 26, 2008

This Memorial Day

Memorial Day reportedly has its roots in 1863, when the Civil War was being fought.

Women in Columbus, Mississippi, decorated with flowers the graves of Confederate war solders, then showed the same respect to the nearby graves of Union soldiers.

In 1866, following the War, a drugstore owner in Waterloo, NY, closed his store on May 30 as a sign of respect for the war dead, and the tradition of Decoration Day ( later Memorial Day) began. Waterloo is about 50 miles west of Syracuse.

By 1882 Memorial Day was observed for the first time as a national day of remembrance for those who died in the nation’s wars.

Today we pay our respects to all who have died representing our nation.

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