{"id":7801,"date":"2025-05-05T10:42:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T14:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/?p=7801"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:42:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T14:42:46","slug":"the-history-of-memorial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/05\/the-history-of-memorial-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of Memorial Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Chase Cowan<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May, and many people don\u2019t even know why it is celebrated.\u00a0 According to a study by Endeavor Analytics and YouGov, only 46 percent of adults correctly identify why we celebrate Memorial Day.\u00a0 It is celebrated to honor military service members who lost their lives in military conflict.\u00a0 Another 45 percent of the respondents concluded that an appropriate way to celebrate Memorial Day is to wish a military veteran a \u201chappy Memorial Day.\u201d\u00a0 While they have good intentions, there is a clear lack of knowledge on the reason we celebrate this holiday.\u00a0 Veteran\u2019s Day\u00a0is observed on November 11, and celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, both living and deceased, but especially those who are still alive.\u00a0 The main difference between Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day is that Memorial Day celebrates the soldiers who have fallen in combat and is generally a more somber holiday.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memorial Day started to be celebrated in the years following the Civil War to honor soldiers who had died in battle.\u00a0 The holiday was first celebrated on May 30, 1868, when General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic called for a national day of remembrance<\/a>.\u00a0 Communities across the country gathered to place flowers on the graves of fallen Union and Confederate soldiers, which became known as Decoration Day.\u00a0 The date was chosen because it did not coincide with any specific battle and was meant to be a peaceful day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, Memorial Day evolved into a national observance honoring all U.S. military personnel who died in service.\u00a0 After World War I, the holiday expanded beyond Civil War casualties to include soldiers from all conflicts that America was involved in.\u00a0\u00a0 In 1971, Congress officially declared Memorial Day a federal holiday, placing it on the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend.\u00a0 While often associated with parades, ceremonies, and the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day remains a solemn occasion dedicated to remembering the sacrifices made by members of the armed forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veteran\u2019s Day was originally named Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I on November 11, 1918.\u00a0 It was later renamed Veteran\u2019s Day by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954 to include all American veterans.\u00a0 According to the Memorial Day Foundation, some ways to celebrate veteran\u2019s day are to attend parades, donate to veteran\u2019s charities, and simply expressing appreciation to veterans by saying \u201cThank you for your service.\u201d\u00a0 According to the Wounded Warrior Project, another way to celebrate Veteran\u2019s Day is to visit military cemeteries.\u00a0 Although Veteran\u2019s Day is usually meant to celebrate veterans who are alive, it is also important to respect veterans who might not have died in combat, but of old age.\u00a0 Their service is just as important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Graphic by Ryder Navarra<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chase Cowan Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May, and many people don\u2019t even know why it is celebrated.\u00a0 According to a study by Endeavor Analytics and YouGov, only 46 percent of adults correctly identify why…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[394,764,138],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/chase.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7803,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7801\/revisions\/7803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}