Saturday, May 23, 2015

Memorial Weekend 2015

They call Memorial Day Weekend the unofficial start to summer. Of course by now you know that I have already proclaimed a number of days to be the unofficial start to summer. These days include:

MLB Opening Day
Pool Opening Day
Cinco de Mayo
And any day where the temperature gets above 80 degrees.

Face it, I love summer!

For all of the excitement of Memorial Day and the weekend parked strategically at the end of May brings, the real meaning of the day is often lost in my revelry. 

I offer the following paragraph, lifted from Wikipedia, regarding Memorial Day:

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces.[1] The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May,[2] originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans — established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.[3] By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service.[1] It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.


Take a moment during this weekend to remember those who have died in service to our country and to preserve our freedoms and our lifestyle. Their sacrifice is too often lost in the frenetic pace that has become our lives.

If you want to know more, I urge you to read the Memorial Day article from 2014, The Oath of the Soldier, which is a speech given on May 25, 2014. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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