The History of Memorial Day

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Transcript:
The last Monday in May is recognized in the United States as Memorial Day. What is Memorial Day in honor of? How long has it been a holiday?
Memorial Day is a day for remembering those who died while serving their country in the military. It is also used to honor all departed loved ones who served in the military, even if they did not die while in service.
Throughout time, various days have been set aside to honor fallen soldiers. In the United States, this tradition began shortly after the Civil War. More than 620,000 men had died during this war, and decorating the graves of loved ones became a regular occurrence. One of the first significant events took place in Charleston, South Carolina, just after the war had ended. On May 1st, 1865, an observance similar to Memorial Day took place with more than 10,000 people decorating a cemetery and paying tribute to those who had died.
While this event in Charleston was one of the first, other cities also claim to have held the first Memorial Day observance. Waterloo, New York; Columbus, Mississippi; Columbus, Georgia; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; and Carbondale, Illinois have all claimed to be the birthplace of Memorial Day.
For many years, the holiday was not referred to as Memorial Day. Instead, the preferred name was Decoration Day. Throughout the early 1900s, more and more people began to refer to it as Memorial Day. In 1967, the name of the holiday was officially changed. The next year, the date of the holiday changed as well. Memorial Day had always been celebrated on May 30th. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act (passed on June 28th, 1968) declared that Memorial Day would be celebrated on the last Monday in May of each year.
Memorial Day is observed in various ways. Memorial Day is intended to be a respectful and solemn holiday. Flags are to be flown at half-staff throughout the morning. Many cemeteries will hold a special Memorial Day service to honor those who have died. Families will decorate individual graves of loved ones who served in the military. Some families also choose to decorate the graves of other family members who were not in the military. Traditional decorations include wreaths, flowers, crosses, or small flags. There are also thousands of communities across the country which hold Memorial Day parades.
The United States is not the only nation to honor such a day. In Canada and the United Kingdom there is a similar holiday known as Remembrance Day. Australia and New Zealand recognize ANZAC Day (this stands for the Australia-New Zealand Army Corps). There are also seventeen different nations that have a holiday known as Heroes Day.

[@tahirahmed1776]

Any nations army soldiers who lost their lives in a war for saving their country is so respectful and honorable and lets pray for those great war heroes who lost their lives and now people across world pay tribute to them as Memorial Day..Salute to their departed souls and this time no parades and less visits to graves to pandemic but their role for their country and in our hearts is always high.

[@fanny7219]

Sorry for the people's lost God blesses America

[@jerseysmeltzer]

i love this video, it reminds me of my grandpas, who luckily stayed alive.

[@JWSitterley]

May God Hold Them Gently. ❤🤍💙

[@nancysue3804]

Thank you for enabling close captioning AND providing the transcript! Stellar!!!

[@jewelgrier4593]

R.i.p.daddy...an to.all the black.men an white men who.died in civil.war an blacks can celebrate THERE freedom

[@tahirahmed1776]

Let's pray honor to all veterans and all who gave their lives for their country while in service in US Armed Forces

[@safirosanchez4677]

This video was made for memorial day everyone pay your respects to your elder

[@SassySilverSisters]

Never forget!!

[@florencebegole5251]

Thank you for making and posting this. I'm sharing it with my adult ESL class. It is clear and slow enough for intermediate adult learners to follow.

[@brigidtully9380]

I am also sharing it with my Adult ESL class in Minnesota.

[@ehzAxemuzik]

@@brigidtully9380 ex Black American slaves celebrated the first memorial day..they will not tell you that and this video is not being totally truthful!

[@pabloreyes2435]

Happy Memorial's Day 🇺🇲 This Is For My Father Even If He Wasn't Killed In WW2 But He Will Be Remember In Memorial's Day . My Father Said When He Enlisted In The Army , He Said That He Was Sent To Galveston , Texas To Be Sent On A Boat To Germany So The Boat Was On It's Way To Germany But When The Boat Had Reach Germany , One Of The Officers Had Said The War Was Over , So The Boat Had To Return To America , My Father Told Me His Story .

[@ctosh407]

you are a great person

[@sheldonjohnson1336]

In Japan the kids are let out of school for an entire week to decorate Graves usually in August

[@loganjohnston8603]

To the people who disliked can you please explain this is crazy.

[@coreyzimmerman1848]

Major General John A. Logan from Murphysboro, Illinois is the founder of remembrance or Memorial Day

[@-Subtle-]

Decoration Day was started by free black men to honor the fallen Union soldiers.

[@lucineakalucykazanian9853]

Thank U for this video

[@lovessquishmellows8302]

this is great for my edication!!!

[@ivannacarbajal6922]

This reminds me of my dad's father died I call him Tito but his real name was José he is dreaming about the stars

[@maggiemarin2314]

+fanny I agree

[@ilovehearts2461]

finally ik what memorial day means :)

[@carlosafajardo7993]

respacts to all who's serviing inside the us militry and pass away in war☢ courage will be remembered my opinion usa today and tommarrow

[@carlosafajardo7993]

i ment usa today tomm and the hisyory of a nation my opioin

[@kprabug]

Nice learning

[@littlebonanimals9258]

i learned alot

[@Nico-gb7ou]

0:23

[@RejkumariBasnet]

❤❤❤❤😊😊

[@1RungAtATime]

And mattress sales.

[@yahawahyahawashi7846]

JohnnySixString yup room mattress 😂😂

[@jada35]

This is so sad

[@maureen.youreilly-nf3dq]

Maureen. Barbara

[@miadahhajbi6442]

انا اله وانا اليه راجعون

[@nayyte1530]

Waterloo gang

[@kprabug]

Funny

[@ryanm.6644]

On gosh

[@yo-uv5oi]

im doing this for class

[@joseserrano8471]

So you don't think it's important to recognize the fact that black soldiers started Memorial Day

[@IcurseAtFishForFun]

What are you talking about black soldiers do you have to turn everything into race ? You’re such a disgusting human being. You should truly be ashamed of yourself. You are everything that’s wrong with this country.

[@susiecunningham1566]

Someone needed to say it thank you

[@LuisRamirez-hz2xf]

While discussions like this continue I celebrate all, Asian, Native Americans, White, Black and Latinos and any other group that defended this great Nation of ours. We need to stop fighting amongst ourselves because there are lots of other groups that want what we have and want to give us sh1t. Let’s state United. God bless you all!

[@-Subtle-]

Yes. And it was too honor Union soldiers. The narrator doesn't seem to know this.

[@roktout161]

good bye soldiers hopefully soldier will get them to rocket jump

[@MaxMax-vw8kr]

Krzychu

[@leifewald5117]

Military worship basically. My allegiance is to Christ alone, NOT to the state. “At the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess.” Jesus is the king of kings.

[@5504berry]

You left out the part about the Black slaves.

[@furbysarecake1049]

the voice is weird :I

[@yo-uv5oi]

oh wait wrong vid

[@johnnieepps9039]

So he’s not gonna mention how African Americans started this holiday?

[@Superfitcouple]

He mentioned Americans started it did he not? Why always with division and racism these days ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!! Try it out