On Monday, May 29th, millions of Americans will be taking the time to celebrate Memorial Day as the unofficial first day of summer and to honor those that gave their lives for freedom in the United States in wars at home and abroad.

 

In the years following the Civil War, the practice of honoring the fallen began. A veteran of the war and head of the Union veterans organization, John Logan, established Decoration Day to place flowers on the graves of those that had fought. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, May 30th was selected because flowers would be in full bloom during that time. Memorial Day became an official federal holiday in 1971.

According to Statista, over 1.3 million U.S. troops have died to maintain our freedom from 1775 to 2023.

LASN honors the brave men and women that have made this ultimate sacrifice to their country as well as our first responders that keep us safe here at home and our Military Veterans who will also be honored on November 11th.