Decoration Day began following the Civil War Now we refer to it as Memorial Day

Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday in May. The day became an official holiday in 1971 but its roots go back more than a 150 years.

The Civil War claimed the lives of more than 620,000 Americans and maimed several hundred thousand more. It destroyed countless acres of farmland, buildings, roads and homes.

The origin of the first gathering is unclear and many locations claim to be the first, but in 1966 the federal government recognized Waterloo, New York as the official birthplace of Memorial Day. Communities of the time independently initiated gatherings as springtime tributes to th...