Memorial Day History, How Manchester Remembers: 4 Things To Know

MANCHESTER, NJ — Memorial Day is a holiday people throughout Manchester and across America look forward to every year as the start of summer.

While many people are looking forward to the holiday weekend more than usual after a year where the coronavirus pandemic limited time spent with family and friends, it remains a solemn occasion, as the final Monday in May is a day to remember all American lives lost during military service.

In Manchester, this year's Memorial Day commemoration will include a ceremony at 10 a.m. at the World War II Memorial Park on Lake Road.

Manchester usually has a parade that accompanies the ceremony, but because the state's outdoor gathering limit changes were announced so close to Memorial Day, the township was not able to organize a parade in time, officials said.

Here are four things to know about the history of Memorial Day:

• It Was Originally Called Decoration Day: Remembering veterans who died while in military service in late May dates back to 1868, when Gen. John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost amid battle during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History.com. Logan called it “Decoration Day,” which is how it was known for several years. As time passed, more and more people called it Memorial Day, History.com reported, and it became a federal holiday in 1971.

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• Birthplace Of Memorial Day: The Memorial Day holiday tradition in Waterloo, New York, dates back even longer than Logan’s call for a day of remembrance. Waterloo first celebrated on May 5, 1866, as local businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags, according to History.com.

"The people of Waterloo are justly proud of this outstanding event in the history of their community," then-New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller said in 1966, when the federal government recognized the upstate village about midway between Rochester and Syracuse as the “birthplace of Memorial Day.”

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• A Civil War Holiday At First: Until World War I, Memorial Day was only meant to honor those who died while fighting for the Union in the Civil War. Southern states honored their war dead on a separate day. After the 116,000-plus American deaths in World War I, the holiday took on a new role to remember all who have died while serving in the military.

• National Moment Of Remembrance: Every year, a national moment of remembrance is held at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. The midday time was chosen “because it is the time when many Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday,” according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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