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 holida
Local Memorial Day observances
Wicked Local
Brookline: Ceremonies at Walnut Hills Cemetery on May 31 start at 9 a.m., and then continue on to the Walnut Street Cemetery for a ceremony conducted by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Town Hall ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. This year again due to the ongoing pandemic and to keep everyone safe, we will not be providing bus transportation to the cemeteries, conducting the procession leading into the main ceremony or the collation after ceremonies.
Burlington: Ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. on May 31 at Chestnut Hill Cemetery. There will be representation from the Allied Veterans Council, police and fire department honor guard, Scout troops and representatives from other veterans’ service organizations. The guest speaker is Jeremy Brooks, a U.S. Air Force veteran, who deployed multiple times to Afghanistan and Iraq.