05/24/2026
🇺🇸 Happy Memorial Day Weekend 🇺🇸
As you are enjoying this extra day off this weekend remember the reason that we have it. It’s to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice 🫡
Just a reminder we will be *** CLOSED MEMORIAL DAY MONDAY ***
This is from the Wounded Warrior Website on Memorial Day.
“Theories of the first Memorial Day
After the Civil War, Americans across the nation began holding tributes to honor the approximately 620,000 soldiers who lost their lives — about 2% of the population at the time. These early observances typically included decorating graves with flowers, reciting prayers, and paying respect to the fallen. But history records show more than one theory about which event marked the first official Memorial Day.
A discovery by a Yale University professor at a Harvard archive suggests the earliest observance of Memorial Day was held by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1865. Records show that the group transformed a racetrack that had once served as a prison for Union captives into a proper burial site.
On May 1, 1865, thousands gathered for a procession led by 3,000 school children carrying flowers and singing patriotic songs.
In 1966, the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day when President Johnson signed a presidential proclamation stating Waterloo celebrated the first Memorial Day. That day, in 1866, the city closed all businesses so residents could decorate the gravesites of soldiers with flowers and American flags.
Other records show that the first Memorial Day came after the Civil War, when communities came together at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868. It remains one of the country’s most notable Memorial Day ceremonies.
But the history doesn’t end there: As recently as the 1990s, historians have found records of earlier celebrations.
"Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices." — Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. president, 1945”
