Monday May 30th │ 3pm
Memorial Day is an American federal holiday to mourn U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the U.S. armed forces. First known as Decoration Day, it began following the Civil War and was named an official federal holiday in 1971. The Civil War ended in 1865, claiming more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and requiring establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, Americans had begun holding springtime tributes to countless fallen soldiers, decorating graves and reciting prayers.
On each Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance occurs at 3pm local time. While it is unclear precisely where this tradition originated, some records show earliest Memorial Day commemorations may have been organized by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, SC less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. In 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, NY as the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
At 3pm, please pause to observe a moment of silence wherever you are to honor our fallen veterans – as well as give thanks for your freedom and the confidence we have in the United States of America. God bless our fallen servicemen and women, and God bless and keep our active military personnel.
