WEEKLY MENU 05.30.21
We’re observing Memorial Day this week, which is a solemn United States holiday that heralds the unofficial start to summer.
The Weekly Menu 05.30.21 includes plans for Memorial Day, which is a US holiday observed the last Monday in May. It is one of several holidays that remembers those that made the ultimate sacrifice.
Memorial Day (previously, but now seldom, called Decoration Day[1]) is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the military personnel who have died in the performance of their military duties while serving in the United States Armed Forces.[2
Many people visit cemeteries and memorials on Memorial Day to honor and mourn those who died while serving in the U.S. Military. Many volunteers place an American flag on graves of military personnel in national cemeteries. Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial start of summer in the United States,[4] while Labor Day, the first Monday of September, marks the unofficial start of autumn.
The holiday’s exact origins are uncertain, but it came out of Civil War traditions of decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. Many cities and individuals claimed to have been the first to celebrate the event. In 1868, General Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic called for a “Decoration Day”, which was widely celebrated. By 1890 every Northern state had adopted it as a holiday. The World Wars turned it into a generalized day of remembrance, instead of just for the Civil War. In 1971, Congress standardized the holiday as “Memorial Day” and changed its observance.
Wikipedia
The quintessential sound of Memorial Day is Taps, which is not actually a song: instead, it’s a bugle call.
The official military Taps is played by a single bugle or trumpet at dusk, during flag ceremonies and at military funerals by the United States Armed Forces. The duration is usually around 59 seconds but can vary at times.
“During the Peninsular Campaign in 1862, a soldier of Tidball’s Battery A of the 2nd Artillery was buried at a time when the battery occupied an advanced position concealed in the woods. It was unsafe to fire the customary three volleys over the grave, on account of the proximity of the enemy, and it occurred to Capt. Tidball that the sounding of Taps would be the most appropriate ceremony that could be substituted.”
US Memorial Day.org
Twenty-four notes. It’s a simple melody, 150 years old, that can express our gratitude when words fail. Taps honors the men and women who have laid down their lives and paid the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom. Fair winds and following seas, shipmates.
United States Navy Band
WEEKLY MENU 05.30.21
