“The first national observance of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868. Then known as Decoration Day and observed on May 30, the holiday was proclaimed by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the American Civil War.” ~Wickipedia

I remember it being called “Decoration Day when I was very small, and I remember one specific year, walking over the hills to the family cemetery with my Daddy, who was a Baptist minister and had been asked to speak at a special service at the cemetery.

Mommy picked me a bouquet of flowers from her garden, and I placed them lovingly on the graves of long-gone grandparents that I never got to know.