Celebrating the memories: Local communities salute their heroes

With parades, processions, marches and memorials, local communities spent Memorial Day celebrating the memories of veterans who died serving their country on Monday.

As Lynn, Lynnfield, Marblehead, Nahant, Peabody, and Swampscott celebrated their loved ones, The Item looked back at the origin of Memorial Day to see how it came to be.

According to the page Celebrating America’s Freedoms on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ website, Memorial Day originated in 1868, three years after the Civil War ended. Created by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, Decoration Day, as it was originally known, was established for the nation to decorate the graves of those who were killed during the war with flowers. May 30 was chosen as the official Decoration Day.

“It is believed the date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country,” the website reads.

The first large observance was held in 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery, where Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Grant, were in attendance.

On May 5, 1866, the Town of Waterloo, N.Y. flew American flags at half-staff and honored local veterans who died in the Civil War. In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson declared Waterloo as the official “birthplace” of Memorial Day.

It was only after World War I when Memorial Day was expanded to honor those who died in all American wars, not just the Civil War.

In 1971, it was officially declared a national holiday and scheduled for the last Monday of May.

Today, cities and towns all over the country continue to gather for Memorial Day on the last Monday in May, placing flags and flowers on graves and celebrating those who died defending their country.

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