Significance:

Honors men and women who have died in military service

Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials.

MEMORIAL DAY

A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. US

Eastern time. Another tradition is to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff from dawn until noon local

time.

In addition to remembrance, Memorial Day is also used as a time for picnics, barbecues, family gatherings, and sporting events.

One of the longest standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911.

The U.S. Air Force's "101 Critical Days of Summer" begin on this day as well. Many Americans use Memorial Day to also honor any family

members who have died, not just servicemen.

Memorial Day formerly occurred on May 30, and some, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the

Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to this fixed date, although the significance of the date is tenuous.

the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union

soldiers who had died while captive. The freed slaves reinterred the dead Union soldiers from the mass grave to individual graves, fenced in the graveyard & built an entry arch declaring it a Union

graveyard; a very daring thing to do in the South shortly after North's victory. On May 30 1868 the freed slaves returned to the

graveyard with flowers they'd picked from the countryside & decorated the individual gravesites, thereby creating the 1st Decoration Day. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.

Memoryby Barbara Streisand

Midnight. Not a sound from the pavement.Has the moon lost her memory.

She is smiling alone.In the lamplight the withered leaves collect at my feet

And the wind begins to moan.Memory - all alone in the moonlight. I can dream of the old days

Life was beautiful then.I remember the time I knew what happiness was.

Let the memory live again.Every street lamps seems to beat a fatalistic warning.

Someone mutters and a streetlamp sputters and soon it will be mornincDaylight - I must wait for the sunrise. I must think of a new life

And I mustn't give in.When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too.

And a new day will begin. Burnt out ends of smoky daysthe stale cold smell of mon@ing. A streetlamp dies another night is over

another day is dawning.Touch me - it's so easy to leave me. AU. alone with the memory

Of my days in the sun.If you touch me youll understand what happiness