In 1866, Henry Welles of Waterloo, New York, suggested that the towns shops should close May 5 to commemorate the soldiers who had died during the Civil War.Two years later in Waterloo, Gen. John Logan issued a declaration that Decoration Day should be observed nationwide. The declaration said that May 30 would be designated as a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers.
In 1882, the name of the holiday was changed from Decoration Day to Memorial Day. After World War I, the holiday was expanded to remember soldiers from all American Wars.
In 1971, Richard Richard Nixon made Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.
Arlington National Cemetery
President Donald Trump on Monday, May 28, will honor U.S. troops in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The cemetery has been active since the Civil War.
The first unknown
The first Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in 1866 and contains the remains of 2,111 soldiers from the Civil War.
The tomb is in what was the rose garden of Arlington House, once Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lees home.
World War I unknown
On Memorial Day 1921, four unknowns were exhumed from four World War I American cemeteries in France. President Warren G. Harding officiated at the internment ceremony on Nov. 11, 1921. The inscription on the tomb says, “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”
World War II unknowns
Interned along with the Korean War unknowns on May 28, 1958. One soldier from the Pacific theater and one from the European.
Korean War unknown
Four soldiers from the Korean War were brought from a cemetery in Hawaii to Arlington National Cemetery in 1958.
Unknown, then known
The remains of the Vietnam Unknown Soldier were exhumed May 14, 1998. Based on DNA testing, scientists identified the remains as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down near An Loc, Vietnam, in 1972.
Blassies remains were reburied by his family in Missouri. The crypt that contained the remains of the Vietnam Unknown has remained vacant. The inscription on the marble crypt was changed to read: “Honoring and Keeping Faith with Americas Missing Servicemen.”
Always guarded
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been guarded every minute of every day since 1948 by members of the elite 3rd U.S. Infantry, known as The Old Guard.
The Guard is changed every 30 minutes during the summer and every hour during the winter. During the hours the cemetery is closed, the guard is changed every two hours.
Sources: The Memorial Day Foundation, Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Department of Defense, Center for Military Readiness, Los Angeles National Cemetery, Riverside National Cemetery
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