WWII vet Ken Jones guest at Memorial Day opening of Adams County Veterans Memorial at Riverdale Regional Park in Brighton. Replica of USS Colorado is centerpiece.
Memorial Day began in the years after the Civil War, when it was originally called âDecoration Day.â At the first official celebration of this holiday in 1868, then-Congressman James A. Garfield, who would become our 20th president, said in a speech at Arlington National Cemetery that those who gave their lives for our country âsummed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens.â
That is as true today as it was 150 years ago. Memorial Day honors the sacrifices of people like Charles Alan Jones, a Nebraskan who was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Seaman 2nd Class Jones was one of the more than 2,400 American soldiers who lost their lives that day. He was just 21 years old.