Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren bog obam here. For many Americans, this holiday has
Speaker 1: traditionally signaled the sort of soft opening of summer and
Speaker 1: the first chance of the year to bust out those
Speaker 1: grilling skills. But Memorial Day signifies a lot more than that.
Speaker 1: Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, and the tradition
Speaker 1: dates back to the eighteen sixties, when men and women
Speaker 1: decorated the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers with wreaths, flowers, flags,
Speaker 1: and other items. The inspiration for the day came from
Speaker 1: local observances that had been popping up throughout the country
Speaker 1: in the three years following the war. General John A.
Speaker 1: Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal
Speaker 1: organization for veterans of the Union Army, was responsible for
Speaker 1: declaring the nationwide Day of Remembrance in eighteen sixty eight.
Speaker 1: In his proclamation, Logan wrote, thirty of May eighteen sixty
Speaker 1: eight is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers
Speaker 1: or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in
Speaker 1: defense of their country during the Late Rebellion and whose
Speaker 1: bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet
Speaker 1: churchyard in the land. Was somewhat of a neutral date
Speaker 1: because it wasn't the anniversary of any one specific Civil
Speaker 1: War battle. That first national commemoration was a major event
Speaker 1: at Arlington National Cemetery, with a speech from former Union
Speaker 1: general and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield. Following Garfield's words
Speaker 1: to attendees, five thousand participants joined in to decorate the
Speaker 1: graves of more than twenty thousand soldiers, both Union and Confederate,
Speaker 1: who were buried at Arlington. That tradition still lives on
Speaker 1: at Arlington to this day, usually involving the current US
Speaker 1: President or Vice president laying a wreath at the tomb
Speaker 1: of the unknown soldier and the ceremonial placement of American
Speaker 1: flags on every grave. This isn't the only account of
Speaker 1: the holiday's history, though. Yale historian David W. Blight traces
Speaker 1: Memorial Day back to a series of commemorations eighteen sixty
Speaker 1: five held by freed black Americans after Union soldiers, including
Speaker 1: members of the twenty first United States Colored Infantry, liberated
Speaker 1: the port city of Charleston, South Carolina. Blite wrote in
Speaker 1: a twenty eleven New York Times essay, the war was
Speaker 1: over and Memorial Day had been founded by African Americans
Speaker 1: in a ritual of remembrance and consecration. The war, they
Speaker 1: had boldly announced, had been about the triumph of their
Speaker 1: emancipation over slaveholders republic. They were themselves the true patriots.
Speaker 1: While Blite's origin theory isn't universally accepted, the facts behind
Speaker 1: the story are worth keeping in mind when honoring this
Speaker 1: Memorial Day either way. Although the commemoration was originally intended
Speaker 1: to pay homage to Civil War soldiers and events, as
Speaker 1: the United States entered World War One in nineteen seventeen,
Speaker 1: the holiday evolved to honor the lives of any U
Speaker 1: s military personnel lost in any war, and a full
Speaker 1: century after the first commemoration, in nineteen sixty eight, Congress
Speaker 1: passed the un form Monday Holiday Act in an effort
Speaker 1: to create three day weekends for federal employees. The change
Speaker 1: went into effect in ninety one, and since that switch,
Speaker 1: Decoration Day became Memorial Day, and the holiday has been
Speaker 1: observed on the last Monday in May every year. As
Speaker 1: far as holidays go, Memorial Day does some heavy lifting
Speaker 1: in terms of the sheer number of people it pays
Speaker 1: tribute to. A few stats to keep in mind. More
Speaker 1: than forty five million soldiers have served the United States
Speaker 1: during wartime. More than one million, three hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand Americans have died in armed conflicts around the world.
Speaker 1: There are two hundred and sixty thousand graves at Arlington
Speaker 1: National Cemetery, and each one is decorated with an American
Speaker 1: flag on Memorial Day. And speaking of the flag, traditionally,
Speaker 1: American flags are raised to the top of the mast
Speaker 1: the morning of Memorial Day, then slowly lowered half masted
Speaker 1: until noon, and then flown at full mast the rest
Speaker 1: of the day. But of course, over the decades since
Speaker 1: its official and section, Memorial Day has taken on somewhat
Speaker 1: of a hybrid vibe, as many Americans consider the extra
Speaker 1: day off as a way to usher in summer. In
Speaker 1: previous years, millions of Americans traveled over the weekend and
Speaker 1: some six as fired up a grill. It's yet to
Speaker 1: be seen how will observe the day this year. Today's
Speaker 1: episode was written by Michelle Constantinovski and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other topics because
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