Memorial Day then and now

Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Bruce Hudson, one of the organizers of the Memorial Day parade in Stuart salutes during the playing of the national anthem.

Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer
Bruce Hudson, one of the organizers of the Memorial Day parade in Stuart salutes during the playing of the national anthem.

Patrick McCallister
For Veteran Voice
While Memorial Day means barbeques and sales for some, for others it’s among the most sacred of our civil holidays. It’s the day when we honor those who’ve died in service to our nation.
How’d it get started? That’s a more complex question than it might seem. Back in the ‘60s, President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation declaring Waterloo, N.Y., the birthplace of Memorial Day on May 30, 1866. The National Memorial Day Museum is even in the village. Done deal, Decoration Day, now Memorial Day, started in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Not so fast.
“Probably the very first commemoration of Memorial Day was May 1, 1865, right here in Charleston (S.C.),” Simon Lewis, a professor at the College of Charleston, said.
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