Memorial Day is an American holiday observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2024 will occur on Monday, May 27th, 2024.
Across the United States, Memorial Day is celebrated with parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veteran’s organizations. This year the American Legion Arthur H. Clune post 1533 of Mastic Beach is sponsoring its 48th Memorial parade. The parade will be held on Memorial Day 5/27/2024, starting at Commack Rd. and Neighborhood Rd. at 10:30 A.M. The parade will go down Neighborhood Rd. to the cemetery at Lakeview Drive. There will be a very small ceremony at the cemetery and the parade will then go to the Legion Post on Mastic Beach Rd and Washington Rd. for the closing ceremony.
HISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY
The Civil War which ended in 1865 claimed more American lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. Americans in various towns and cities visited those cemeteries in the springtime paying tributes to the countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.
On May 5, 1868, General John A Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance to take place on May 39th 1868. He called the day Decoration Day, and its purpose was to place flowers, or otherwise decorate the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and those bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. He chose the date because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular action.
During World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars and the name Decoration Day became Memorial Day. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the Last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
The American flags are flown at half-mast. Americans also observe Memorial Day, by visiting cemeteries and memorials. There is also a moment of silence at 3:00 PM. Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance of those fallen in war – a tradition that began with a World War I poem. The poem was written by Colonel John McCrae, a physician in 1915.
The poem, “In Flanders Fields” opening lines refer to the fields of poppies that grew among the soldiers' graves in Flanders. In 1918 Moina Michael attended an Overseas War Secretaries conference wearing a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed over two dozen more to others present. In 1920 the National American Legion adopted it as their official symbol of remembrance. The American Legion continues to use the poppy program every year as the symbol of remembrance
Help is available to you by calling the local VA hospital in Northport, 631.261.4400 or Veterans Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255, press 1 to talk to a veteran, or have a confidential chat: VeteransCrisisLine.net or text to 838255.
If you have any questions relating to veteran problems please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to answer it. Contact us: Drfred72@Gmail.com.
Rev. Frederick Miller, Ph.D.