Memorial Day

In the United States, Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May and is culturally regarded as the unofficial start of the summer season. Conversely, Labor Day in September is considered the unofficial end of summer.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation officially declaring Waterloo, New York, as the birthplace of Memorial Day. This recognized the town's early and consistent observance of the holiday starting in May 1866.

While Memorial Day was observed for many decades, it was officially declared a federal holiday in 1971 under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which also moved it to the last Monday in May.

Originally, Decoration Day (later Memorial Day) was dedicated specifically to honoring those who died in the American Civil War. After World War I, the holiday was expanded to honor all American military personnel who died in any war.

James A. Garfield, who would later become the 20th U.S. President, delivered the keynote address at the first major Decoration Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in 1868. At the time of the speech, he was serving as a major general and U.S. Congressman.

General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, officially called for a nationwide "Decoration Day" on May 30, 1868, to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers.

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day because it was a time set aside to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers, wreaths, and flags.

The red poppy became a symbol of remembrance after being inspired by the famous World War I poem "In Flanders Fields," written by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, which describes poppies blooming across battlefields.

Since the passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Memorial Day is officially observed on the last Monday in May each year.