Memorial Day - 2013

On this Memorial Day (celebrated May 27, 2013), pause and reflect on just what the meaning of Memorial Day is.

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and began after the Civil War to commemorate Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1967 the name of the holiday was officially changed by Federal law.

The U.S. Flag is to be flown at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day and then raised to full staff.

"The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all." (Source: Wikipedia)

[Editor's note 10:30PM] See First Electric Newspaper for its recap of the number of American war deaths from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War through WWI and WWII, and on through to today in Afghanistan and Iraq.