Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Decoration Day and Gettysburg

Gettysburg cemetery, from Wikipedia.

Problem
When is Memorial day, what's it for and how does it differ from Decoration Day and Veterans Day?

Answers
Memorial Day is the last Sunday in May in the USA. It started at the time in the 1800s after the civil war to remember the dead. The idea started in the south and spread to the north.

Why remember this war? Huge numbers of dead, in south and north.

Why May? Not to remember any particular battle. On the contrary, to give equal recognition to all who died. The last Sunday means the date varies.

May was chosen because flowers are out. The American south is hotter than the north, but flowers are out in both areas.

It was a day for remembering those who died in battle, the army.  Why only the army? Planes had not yet been invented in the time when this started. Not much call for a navy either, with those in the north fighting those in the south.

What's the difference between Memorial day and Veterans Day? Memorial day is like memorial services, held in memory of the dead. Veterans day is for the living.

What is decoration day? It's a day for decorating graves. (Similar events honouring family graves occur in Asia.) That can include family graves, people not involved in wars.

Finger Walking Tips
You can read more and see more pictures in Wikipedia.

Travel Tips
Places to visit in the USA:
Gettysburg - my top visit. Everything is stunning. The battlefield. The stories of the soldiers. The story of memorials. The story of how Lincoln wrote his Lincoln's Gettysburg address speech. He started with seventy years and changed to three score years and ten.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to posts.