This upcoming weekend people all across the United States will be celebrating Memorial Day.
For the last 44 years Memorial Day has been nationally recognized and celebrated on the last Monday of May, but it wasn’t always like that. In fact, the holiday wasn’t even originally called Memorial Day. It was known as Decoration Day.
Decoration Day was first observed after the Civil War by Union veterans on May 30, 1868 in remembrance of fallen service members.
Today, most spend people spend the long weekend shopping, visiting friends, traveling, or camping. In an effort to get back to the core reason for celebrating the holiday, Congress passed an act in 2010 for a national moment of remembrance. The moment, which occurs at 3 pm on Memorial Day, encourages Americans to observe a moment of silence in honor of those lost and fallen in service.
We have gathered several great ways you can honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom this Memorial Day:
- Visit a veteran’s memorial or cemetery
- Thank a living veteran for their service
- Attend a local Memorial Day service
- If you know a Veteran, share a photo and story of them
- Raise the Flag, but make sure it flies at half mast until noon
In honor of fallen veterans, customers who use coupon code “memday2015” will receive a 15% discount on all SmartCells anti-fatigue, fall protection and personal training products through the end of Memorial Day.