We won’t be bringing you an ASPPA Connect newsletter on Monday, May 30 due to the observance of Memorial Day; it will return on Wednesday, June 1. In the meantime, we would like to share some little-known facts related to the holiday.
Originally, the purpose of Memorial Day was to honor American soldiers who died in the Civil War; after World War I it was expanded to honor those who fell serving in all wars in which the U.S. participated.
Memorial Day, first known as Decoration Day, was observed on May 30 until 1971, when it became a federal holiday and was moved to the last Monday in May.
The first Memorial Day speech was given in 1868 by Rep. James Abram Garfield (R-Ohio), later the 20th president, at Arlington National Cemetery located in Arlington County, VA on the other side of the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The annual Memorial Day celebration there is now attended by approximately 5,000 people.
Arlington National Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the world and has approximately 400,000 graves.
In 2000, The National Moment of Remembrance Act was enacted; it asks all Americans to stop what they are doing at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day for a one-minute long remembrance to honor those who have died serving the United States. Among the companies and organizations that observe it include Amtrak, Greyhound, Major League Baseball and the Empire State Building.
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