Tag: Memorial Day

#175 Remember & Honor
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Memorial Day: Remember & Honor

Memo­r­i­al Day cel­e­bra­tions take place through­out the Unit­ed States to remem­ber & hon­or sol­diers who died fight­ing for this coun­try. Fam­i­ly & friends gath­er to com­mem­o­rate the patri­ot­ic hol­i­day, usu­al­ly with hot dogs & ham­burg­ers on the barbeque.

For sun lovers Memo­r­i­al Day week­end is the unof­fi­cial begin­ning of sum­mer, where beach­es & camp­grounds are the des­ti­na­tion. (For hard­core sun wor­shipers the first day of Day­light Sav­ings Time is when sum­mer offi­cial­ly starts.)

Here are some facts about this hol­i­day, a day to remem­ber & honor:

Memorial Day Was Originally Named ‘Decoration Day’

In 1869, the head of an orga­ni­za­tion of Union vet­er­ans Maj. Gen. John A. Logan estab­lished Dec­o­ra­tion Day as a way for the nation to hon­or the graves of those who died in the Civ­il War with flow­ers, accord­ing to the U.S. Vet­er­ans Affairs Department.

May 30 Was Chosen as the Observation Day Because Flowers Are in Bloom

Logan was believed to have cho­sen May 30 as the day to observe Dec­o­ra­tion Day because flow­ers would be in bloom nationwide.

Though there were future con­ver­sa­tions over the offi­cial day for Memo­r­i­al Day, by the end of the 19th cen­tu­ry, state leg­is­la­tures passed procla­ma­tions nam­ing May 30 as the holiday.

Memorial Day Was Declared a National Holiday in 1971

In 1971, Con­gress declared Memo­r­i­al Day a nation­al hol­i­day, plac­ing it as the last Mon­day in May. The day was expand­ed to hon­or all those who have died in Amer­i­can wars.

Con­gress in Decem­ber 2000 passed and the pres­i­dent signed into law “The Nation­al Moment of Remem­brance Act,” to ensure those who sac­ri­ficed their lives for the coun­try were not forgotten.

The Official Birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York

There are debates over which city was the ori­gin of Memo­r­i­al Day, although the first large obser­va­tion was held at Arling­ton Nation­al Ceme­tery in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. for a crowd of about 5,000 in 1868.

In 1966, for­mer Pres­i­dent Lyn­don John­son declared Water­loo, New York the offi­cial “birth­place” of the holiday.

The National Moment of Remembrance is at 3 p.m. Monday

The Nation­al Moment of Remem­brance, which asks that Amer­i­cans pause in silence to remem­ber & hon­or those who have died serv­ing the U.S., takes place at 3 p.m. on Memo­r­i­al Day.

Concept & design

In the pho­to­graph for Amper­Art #175 Remem­ber & Hon­or, tak­en at Nation­al Ceme­tery, we are view­ing the back sides of the grave mark­ers. The inscrip­tion “Remem­ber & Hon­or” is ren­dered on the of the fore­ground mark­er, sym­bol­i­cal­ly leav­ing the sol­dier’s name intact on its front.

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Chaz DeS­i­mone, design­er & typog­ra­ph­er, is the cre­ator of Amper­Art & own­er of Des­i­mone Design. He was adding ser­ifs to let­ters when he was just a lit­tle brat scrib­bling on walls. Now he’s a big brat & his entire career is design, so long as each project requires the most sophis­ti­cat­ed, log­i­cal, cap­ti­vat­ing results. Con­tact him at chaz@​desimonedesign.​com.

Thank you for sub­scrib­ing to Chaz’s per­son­al design project, Amper­Art. Please invite your friends — those who are fans of the fun & fab­u­lous amper­sand — to sub­scribe at amper​art​.com.

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