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The Columbus Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1127 invites the community to a ceremony honoring Memorial Day.
It will be held at the Columbus City Veterans Memorial Park located at 100 Veterans Drive in Columbus on Monday, May 26, beginning at 1 p.m. Attendees will be served complimentary burgers or hot dogs, while they last, provided by Feed the Need Missions, from noon until 1 p.m.
Donations are welcomed. The program will begin promptly at 1 p.m. and include patriotic music, comments by local leaders, and reflections of several combat veterans expressing the meaning of Memorial Day to them.
Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May every year. In 2025, it falls on Monday, May 26th. It is a federal holiday to honor and remember those who died while serving in the U.S. military.
Here are some facts and history on the holiday:
• The day was originally set aside to remember Union soldiers who died during the Civil War, but following World War I, its scope expanded to include those who died in any war or military action. At the end of the Civil War, many US cities held their own memorial observations for their hometown heroes.
• The idea for a specific holiday came in 1868 from Illinois Senator John Alexander Logan, a former Union general and keynote speaker at one early observation. Logan used his position as commander- in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of Union soldiers, to issue a proclamation for a national “Decoration Day” to be observed on May 30 of that year by decorating the tombs of Union soldiers.
• The name “Memorial Day,” started cropping up from time to time. The new name became more common after World War II, and in 1967 was declared the official name by Federal law.
• Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30 until 1968, when Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, moving 4 holidays — Columbus Day, Presidents’ Day, Veterans Day and Memorial Day—to designated Mondays in order to create the ever-popular three-day weekends. (Veterans Day eventually reverted to its traditional November 11 date, which mirrors Armistice Day and Remembrance Day celebrations in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations).
