A wreath on the Memorial Day
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
I have read this story on the US Embassy website of Stockholm: It was mid-19th century. When all became quiet after the Civil War and surviving soldiers started returning home, a drugstore owner in Waterloo got the idea of Memorial Day for the first time. He proposed that all the shops in the town remain closed for the day to honor the souls who could not return from the War. It was May 5, 1866.
During the same time, Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan thought out another plan for those who survived the war. He guided the veterans to the cemetery to decorate comrades’ graves with flags. The day was name Decoration Day at that time.
The two ceremonies were combined in 1868 and in 1882 the name Memorial Day was coined. The day is not for celebration only; it is the time to offer our respect to those who dedicated their lives for the nation.


