What Memorial Day Means

What is the meaning of Memorial Day?

That can sometimes get lost in the barbeques, travel plans and celebrations of this holiday season.

It's sometimes called the official start of the summer season, but for the past 143 years, its purpose has been to honor Americans who have died in war.

In Pleasanton, Legion Post 237 and the VFW Post 6298 will co-host a program at the Pleasanton Senior Center starting at 10:30 a.m.

In Livermore, Livermore American Legion Post 47 will host a flag ceremony at Roselawn Cemetery, 1240 North Livermore Ave.

At 9 a.m., members will raise the flag to half staff at the GAR flagpole at the west end of the cemetery. At noon the flag will be raised to full staff and at 4:30 p.m. the flag will be retired. Roselawn Cemetery.

The day differs from Veterans Day in November, when the nation pauses to remember all its members of the armed forces.

Memorial Day is designed to recognize the 1.8 million Americans who have been killed in our nation's wars since 1775.

The day has its roots in the Civil War, our nation's deadliest war. More than 600,000 Union and Confederate fighters died in that four-year conflict.

Days were set aside during that war to remember the soldiers who had perished.

On May 5, 1868, Gen. John Logan officially proclaimed a Memorial Day holiday. It was celebrated on May 30 that year, according to the website usmemorialday.org.

Until World War One, the holiday observed only those who died in the Civil War. After the first World War, Memorial Day was used to honor those who died in all of our country's wars.

It has since been moved to the final Monday in May. That was made official by an act of Congress in 1971.