HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Alabama A&M Athletics would like to recognize the more than 1.1 million individuals who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their nation on this Memorial Day.
 
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, what we now know as Memorial Day began on May 5, 1868 when Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the head of an organization of Union veterans called the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of Civil War dead.
 
Following World War I, the holiday was broadened to include service members who died in all of the country’s wars. In 1971, the last Monday in May was officially designated as a federal holiday recognizing the commemoration.
 
On December 28, 2000, the United States Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed, The National Moment of Remembrance Act. This formalized a commemoration that had occurred since 1997, wherein “Taps” was played on many radio and television stations across the nation at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day.
 
In signing that document into law, President Clinton had this to say.
 
“It is my hope that the establishment of the National Moment of Remembrance in law … will promote greater understanding of the meaning of the Memorial Day holiday for all Americans.”
 
Alabama A&M Athletics echoes that sentiment and asks that, on this day where many of us have a day off but don’t often look at why, that we all take just a moment and remember all of the men and women who gave their lives for this country throughout its history.
 

This post was originally published on this site