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thedrifter
05-24-09, 07:36 AM
Keeping up the holiday's traditions

Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, recognizing the family tradition of placing flowers on graves to honor the soldiers, sailors and Marines of the Civil War.

John A. Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union soldiers, made these celebrations official in 1868, establishing May 30 as the day for veterans to honor their dead comrades.

Many Southerners regarded the holiday as a Northern commemoration and chose dates other than May 30 to remember their Civil War dead.

After World War I, there was further debate over whether the country should honor its war dead with a single holiday or whether World War I dead would have their own holiday on Armistice Day in November.

The debate continued until after the end of World War II, when the current purpose of the holidays became established: Memorial Day for honoring the dead, and Armistice Day, renamed Veterans Day, for honoring and thanking the living.

It wasn't until 1971 that Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday, to be celebrated the last Monday in May.

Here are some local Memorial Day events:

Today

American Legion Raleigh Post 1 will hold its National Cemetery Memorial Day Celebration at Raleigh National Cemetery, 501 Rock Quarry Road. A concert band will play at 1:30 p.m.; the ceremony begins at 2 p.m. The post expects more than 14 organizations to participate. This year's speaker is Elree Smith, past department commander of the VFW.

Monday

The Summerfield North neighborhood in Raleigh will hold an old-fashioned parade at 10:30 a.m. Participants should dress patriotically and gather at the intersection of Apple Orchard Way and Mourning Dove Road.

For more information, e-mail social@summerfieldnorth.com.

Tar Heel Detachment 733 of the Marine Corps League will sponsor a Memorial Day ceremony at the state Capitol in downtown Raleigh. The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. with patriotic music performed by the St. Francis Brass Quintet. A wreath-laying ceremony will follow, along with a performance by Alicia Grant of her song "Brave Soldiers of the USA" and a speech by Steve Wilson, a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War. The event will close with a 21-gun salute and more band music. For more information contact John Staley of the Marine Corps League, 349-2540.

That ceremony will be followed by one at noon by the N.C. Vietnam Veterans Inc., also on the Capitol grounds.

The Garner VFW will hold a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. at Monday at Montlawn Memorial Park, 2911 S. Wilmington St. in Raleigh.

Maplewood Cemetery, 1621 Duke University Road in Durham, will be the site of a Memorial Day ceremony at 6 p.m. It will include a Durham firefighters' honor guard, a wreath-laying ceremony, patriotic songs performed by Neil Donnelly and a speech by American Legion Post 7 Commander Joel Lipsey.

For more information, call the post at 688-6581.

Ellie