Happy Memorial Day from Dare to Gamble

It’s almost over, but I still wanted to take a moment and wish all our American readers a safe and pleasant Memorial Day. What’s Memorial Day? It’s a national U.S. holiday for honoring those who have died in military engagements at home and abroad. Veteran’s Day (celebrated on November 11th), on the other hand, is traditionally for honoring all veterans, living or dead, of various wars and conflicts.

And just in case you’re interested, here are some neat facts that you might not know about.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MEMORIAL DAY

1. First used to honor Union soldiers who died in the American Civil War, Memorial Day was first observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic racetrack in Charleston, South Carolina. This was the site of a former Confederate prison camp and mass grave for dead Union soldiers.

2. One of the longest traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911.

3. Memorial Day officially fell on May 30th, but it was moved to the last Monday in May due to the Uniform Holidays Bill in 1968. This made Memorial Day, along with Veteran’s Day, Columbus Day and President’s Day, into three-day weekends.

This practice has been opposed by groups such as Veterans of Foreign Wars and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. They advocate a return to the traditional date, citing the creation of a three-day weekend as simply undermining the meaning of the day.

And just to hammer home the importance of the day, take a look at the American death tolls for various conflicts since the Civil War.

AMERICAN CASUALTIES IN MILITARY ACTION

American Civil War - 620,000

Spanish-American War - 3,289

World War One - 117,465

World War Two - 418,500

Korean War - 54,589

Vietnam War - 58,209

Persian Gulf War - 378

Iraq War - 3,422 (and climbing)

So as you eat a hot dog and drink a cold beer today, be sure and pause for a minute or two and remember all those brave men and women who died in combat. After making the ultimate sacrifice, surely they’ve earned at least a moment of our time.

Happy Memorial Day from Dare to Gamble