Remembering Those Who Served

Date Posted: 05/26/2025

We hope that you will take time this Memorial Day to honor those that gave the ultimate sacrifice serving this great nation that we call home. We hope you enjoy time with your family today and celebrate the freedoms we have because of all those who have served.

Memorial Day, a federal holiday held the last Monday in May, is the nation's foremost annual day to mourn and honor its deceased service men and women.

Originally called Decoration Day, it was formalized by a "Memorial Day Order" issued by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868.

The modern proclamation calls on Americans "to observe Memorial Day by praying, according to their individual religious faith, for permanent peace."

In the waning years of the Civil War (1861-1865) and immediately afterward, communities in the North and South, Black and White, decorated soldiers' graves with floral honors on springtime "decoration days." The practice of strewing flowers on graves has been documented from Classical Roman times to western Europe in the nineteenth century.

On May 5, 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a politically powerful organization of Union veterans led by Major General John A. Logan - issued General Orders No. 11 or the "Memorial Day Act." This issuance formally established "Memorial Day" as a Decoration Day on which the nation would remember its war dead and decorate their graves with flowers. ~ US Department of Veteran Affairs