In Honour of Memorial Day

Remembering the fallen on this Memorial Day.  Like all days of remembrance, there's a history and story behind them. Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day – MEMORIAL DAY IS A DAY OF REMEMBERING THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DIED WHILE SERVING, whereas Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Like all things in America, there are always two histories, the real one and the one the government stamps as being official. Here's some truth for you, according to "David W. Blight, a historian at Yale... He traces the holiday to a series of commemorations that freed black Americans held in the spring of 1865, after Union soldiers, including members of the 21st United States Colored Infantry, liberated the port city of Charleston, S.C." That's the real history albeit debated by some historians.

The "official" history states, "In 1868, copying a southern annual observance, General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois, established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the Union war dead with flowers.

By the 20th century, various Union and Confederate memorial traditions, celebrated on different days, merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service."

No matter which history you believe, there is one truth about this special day, it is about remembering those who died while in service in the United States military. On this day, join me in remembering the fallen.

#MemorialDay #USMilitaryService #NotVeteransDay #RememberingTheFallen