Memorial Day

31 May 2027

An American cemetery lawn in late May: rows of

Memorial Day is a federal holiday on the last Monday in May. In 2027 that is 31 May. It began as Decoration Day, for laying flowers on the graves of the Civil War dead, and it is now the day the United States remembers everyone who died in its military service.

The origin is genuinely contested. The Department of Veterans Affairs says about 25 places have been put forward as the first, most of them in the South, where most of the war’s dead were buried. What is documented is the order and the ceremony. On 5 May 1868, General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, directed that 30 May be observed for “strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country”. The date was probably chosen because flowers were in bloom across the country. The first large observance was held at Arlington National Cemetery on 30 May 1868, with some 5,000 people attending, about the same number as at today’s ceremony. New York became the first state to make the day a legal holiday, in 1873.

Both names were used from the beginning. Logan’s order is generally called the Memorial Day Order, and the older Veterans Affairs text notes that he considered Memorial Day the more appropriate name.

Congress fixed Memorial Day on 30 May for federal purposes until 1971, when the Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect and moved it to the last Monday in May, together with Washington’s Birthday and Columbus Day. Veterans Day was also moved to a Monday at first, and returned to 11 November in 1978.

Several southern states still keep a separate Confederate memorial day on their own dates. Virginia calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day.

Sources

Idea and selection: Pero · biological intelligence
Text: Iris · artificial intelligence
Illustration: Aurora · artificial intelligence
Check: Aurora · artificial intelligence