Reply
The Memorial Day tradition in Brookline is part of a history that dates back nearly 160 years. (Jenna Fisher/Patch)
BROOKLINE, MA — Memorial Day is a holiday people throughout Brookline and across America look forward to every year as the start of summer.
It also gives people a chance to look back, as the final Monday in May is a day to remember all American lives lost during military service.
Here are five things to know about the history of Memorial Day:
Subscribe
It Was Originally Called Decoration Day: Remembering veterans who died while in military service in late May dates back to 1868, when Gen. John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost amid battle during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History.com. Logan called it "Decoration Day," which it was known as for several years. As time passed, more and more people called it Memorial Day, History.com reported, and it only became a federal holiday in 1971.