EE Managing Editor
Trumbull High School students celebrate a holiday honoring the brave men and women who served in the armed forces throughout the many wars our country has fought. It is called Veterans Day, which takes place on November 11th. Now, some of you might be wondering if we celebrated that day already this year. Well, that does raise a valid point. Many people believe that Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday in May, is basically recognizing the same thing as Veterans Day. So, are Americans really celebrating the same holiday twice in a year? Or is there more to it than that?
It’s easy to see why people think these days are redundant. At their core, they are about honoring and recognizing our armed forces. But the history of the holidays shows more than that. Veterans Day began as Armistice Day on November 11, 1919, celebrating the end of World War I. In 1938, the day became a legal holiday, a “Day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’” Later, changes to the day allowed it to recognize all veterans of war, not just from WWI, and formally changed the name to Veterans Day.
Memorial Day began as “Decoration Day,” coming about after the Civil War ended. The day included paying respect to the soldiers that had fallen during the war.
The first known occurrence of this was in Charleston, South Carolina. David W. Blight described the day “This was the first Memorial Day. African Americans invented Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina. What you have there is black Americans recently freed from slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, their feet, and their songs what the War had been about. What they basically were creating was the Independence Day of a Second American Revolution.”
The name of the holiday gradually changed starting with the first adoption of Memorial Day in 1882. Incidentally, for many, the holiday marks the beginning of Summer.
Another difference between the two is that while both are nationally observed holidays, only Memorial Day seems to be the one that gets us a day off from school. Why? Who knows. But still, it turns out you actually can differentiate between the two.
Veterans Day is based on remembering and honoring the still living men and women who put their lives on the line for our country. Memorial Day is for the ones who didn’t return, the brave soldiers that gave their lives to keep us free. While they may sound alike, don’t be deceived: These holidays both serve important purposes.
I myself didn’t know the difference really between the two holidays, so this article was very effective in teaching the different elements of each holiday. Not enough people are educated about both. They should be informed these important times.