While many of you may have enjoyed the Memorial Day sales, parades, and time off work, the meaning of Memorial Day is still a day to remember and honor those who passed serving their country. Even if you don’t know someone personally who fell in the line of duty or were out planting flags at a cemetery, there are still things one can learn, observe, and even teach others.
Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day which was on May 30th, a day where no battles occured. By 1968, Decoration Day morphed into Memorial Day as a day that belonged to the fallen veterans of all eras. It is important to remember that Memorial Day is not Veterans Day. While more often than not they are confused or interchanged, this is a day of remembering the men and women who passed fighting for their country.
One tradition anyone can partake in is, a moment of silence. Every Memorial Day at 3 p.m. local time, whether you’re at home, at a parade or in the middle of sipping your beer, please take a moment to observe the National Moment of Remembrance. For one full minute, Americans everywhere should pause to remember all the men and women who died in service to our country.
Another interesting facet of Memorial Day is the raising and lowering of the flag. On Memorial Day the flag is raised only to half-staff. At noon, the flag should be raised to full-staff until it’s taken down at sunset. Memorial Day is the only day that observes both positions on the flagpole. If you fly a flag from the porch of your house and can’t lower it, simply attach a black mourning streamer to the top for when it’s supposed to be lowered.
For more information about Veterans, Real Estate, Austin, I, your Veteran Austin/Killeen Texas Real Estate Agent, am here to help. And if you’re a veteran yourself, please also know there are tons of Veteran Association (VA) related resources to help you on your journey to finding a realtor, getting a VA and/or Veteran Land Board (VLB) Military Loan or VLB Home Improvement loan or grant, and finding your dream Texas home.
Hope y’all had a great Memorial Day.
