On Memorial Day ~ Nor Shall Their Story Be Forgot ~ Appreciating All of Our Soldiers and Veterans, today and every day.
Memorial Day is not just about shopping and store sales.
NOR SHALL THEIR STORY BE FORGOT
"Memorial Day is a US federal holiday wherein the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces are remembered.
The holiday, which is celebrated every year on the final Monday of May, was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.
By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service.
It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.
Memorial Day should not to be confused with Veterans Day; Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, while Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans." -- from The History of Memorial Day (wikipedia) - read more here.
Another source, Pajamadeen, writes:
"The holiday fittingly began as a black history celebration, with the first impromptu Decoration Day observed in 1865 by liberated slaves in Charleston, SC, at Washington Race Course (now Hampton Park). The race course had been both a Confederate prison camp and a mass grave for Union soldiers who died in captivity. In a process which took only 10 days, freed slaves exhumed bodies from the mass grave, reinterring each Union solder in an individual grave. When finished, the former slaves built a fence around the graveyard, added an entry arch, and declared the site a Union cemetery. On May 1, 1865, a crowd of up to 10,000 mainly black residents, including 2,800 children, went to the graveyard and celebrated with a picnic, sermons and singing. And thus Decoration Day was born. However, Waterloo, NY gets the credit as the official birthplace of Memorial Day, because the village first formally observed the holiday on 5 May 1866."
Links:
- Lots of Memorial Day History
- About collecting Patriotic postcards
- Images of beautiful vintage Memorial Day postcards
- Article that discusses vintage postcard collecting, perfect for the beginning collector.
Video clip of one man's album full of Memorial Day postcards:
Memorial Day postcard collection shows century-old sentiments from Breanna Roy on Vimeo.
Sneaking a little fun into this somber day.
Ms. Dow Antiques Blog 'Tique Talk is published by msdowantiques.com
