When is Memorial Day 2024? What and who does Memorial Day celebrate? Here's what to know
Summer is edging closer, which means another major US holiday is coming up.
Here's what you need to know about when Memorial Day is this year, why it's celebrated and how it got its start.
When is Memorial Day 2024?
This year, Memorial Day in the United States falls on May 27, 2024.
The holiday is always celebrated on the last Monday in May, after Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968.
What does Memorial Day celebrate?
Memorial Day is a day to honor those who have died while in military service for the United States. The holiday is not to be confused with Veterans Day, Nov. 11, which honors the service of all military veterans.
Cities often hold Memorial Day parades, and families decorate the graves of fallen soldiers, to honor the occasion.
The holiday has also become the unofficial marker of the start of summer, with many families taking advantage of the long weekend by taking trips, and water parks often open on Memorial Day weekend.
Who started Memorial Day?
Memorial Day was started in 1868 by John A. Logan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a patriotic organization of American Civil War veterans who served in the Union forces.
Logan chose May 30, 1868, to decorate the graves of fallen Union soldiers, according to the National Archives. Known then as Decoration Day, the day eventually came to include those who had died in all US wars, according to History.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: When is Memorial Day 2024? Who started Memorial Day? What to know
