The 2023 American Legion Memorial Parade will be held on Tuesday, May 30, from 7 to 8 p.m.
Those interested in participating in the parade should arrive at the American Legion Post 3 on the east end of Brady Park at 6:30p.m.
The route will run from the American Legion Post 3 west down Water Street one block, then south on Bingham two blocks to the Courthouse Memorial Grounds.
The American Legion holds the parade on the original Decoration Day, which was established on May 5, 1868 by General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans.
“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” Logan proclaimed, according to the History Channel.
He chose this date because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular conflict or war.
Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was initially created to honor the soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. However, as the United States got involved in World War I, the holiday evolved to commemorate the fallen American military members from all wars, including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Memorial Day continued to be celebrated for decades on May 30, which was selected by General Logan for the first Decoration Day in 1868. However, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968, shifting Memorial Day to the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend for federal employees, reads the History Channel. This change took effect in 1971, and the same law officially recognized Memorial Day as a federal holiday.
