Many celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend with barbecues and family get-togethers, but Memorial Day is so much more than a chance to kick off the summer months. At its heart, Memorial Day is a day to solemnly honor all men and women who have died in U.S. military service. Read on to learn more about the true meaning of Memorial Day, as well as some interesting Memorial Day facts and Memorial Day history.
When is Memorial Day 2023?
This year, Memorial Day falls on May 29, 2023. Memorial Day is always the last Monday in May.
Memorial Day Meaning and Memorial Day History
Memorial Day commemorates all men and women who have died in U.S. military service. It’s not to be confused with Veterans Day, which celebrates the service of U.S. military veterans, or with Armed Forces Day, which honors men and women currently in service.
Memorial Day began a few years after the Civil War, in 1868. An organization of Union veterans established the holiday, then known as Decoration Day, as a time to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. From then until the present day, the solemn holiday has been formally observed at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
In 2000, Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act, which encourages Americans to observe a moment of silence at 3 p.m. local time to remember those who have died in service.
“I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering words on this occasion,” then-Congressman James Garfield said in an 1868 Decoration Day address at Arlington, which still captures the true meaning of Memorial Day today. “If silence is ever golden, it must be here beside the graves of fifteen thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem, the music of which can never be sung.”
Related: Memorial Day Freebies for Veterans
Memorial Day Facts
Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day.