Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Today we celebrate Memorial Day, part of Military Appreciation Month. It is celebrated on the last Monday in May, honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the American Dream and the right to Freedom: their lives. I know that I’ve done a lot of posts this month regarding Military Service. It is something that has always been close to my heart and now as a future USMC wife, it’s even closer to my heart! Sometimes all the individual branch and remembrance days can be hard to differentiate between and keep track of. I found this graphic recently and I think it sums it up quite nicely.

So just a quick recap/breakdown:

May is Military Appreciation Month

Armed Forces Day is the 3rd Saturday of May (Armed Forces Week is the 2nd Saturday to the 3rd Sunday of May)

Military Spouse Appreciation Day is May 23rd

Memorial Day is the last Monday in May.

D-Day is June 6th

The Army’s Birthday is June 14th

Flag Day is also June 14th

Independence Day is July 4th

The Coast Guard’s Birthday is August 4th

Purple Heart Day is August 7th

The Navy’s birthday is October 13th

9-11 Remembrance is September 11th

National POW/MIA Recognition Day is September 16th

Gold Star Mother’s Day is the last Sunday in September

The Marine’s birthday is November 10th

Veterans Day is November 11th.

Pearl Harbor Remberance Day is December 7th

The National Guard’s Birthday is December 13th

That’s a lot of holidays and birthdays! No one it’s so easy to get them mixed up!!!

The 1st Memorial Day observance originated around the Civil War times and Charleston, SC is known for hosting one of the 1st Memorial Day observances on May 1st, 1865 with 10,000 people in attendance at Hampton Park Race Course (now a beautiful 60 acre park in the City of Charleston). Hampton Park had previously been used a prison camp during the Civil War. The pictures below is what Hampton Park looks like now:

Memorial Day is typically celebrated with friends and family, typically around a BBQ setting as the weather is getting warmer and school is beginning to end for the year. There are different celebrations depending on your area, including festivals and parades, handing out flags, flying Old Glory in a prominent area, wearing red/white/blue colors out in public, decorating cars, visiting military spouses and families who have current members deployed, visiting [military] gravestones and putting an American flag at each stone, in remembrance and honoring our fallen heroes. The American flag on all flagpoles is raised to the top as it is normally, then lowered to half staff til Noon in remembrance of whose who gave their lives. After Noon, the flag is raised again in a promise that we honor their sacrifice and promise to continue on in the fight for liberty, justice and freedom.