“For families of the fallen, every day is Memorial Day. These heroes gave up all of their tomorrows for all of our todays.”
Bill Reynolds, Vietnam War veteran, SCV 2016 Memorial Day ceremony
All Santa Clarita Valley residents are invited to join the community in honoring their war dead Monday as Memorial Day both kicks off the unofficial summer vacation season and marks one of the oldest American holidays of the year, set aside originally to honor those killed during the Civil War.
Originally called “Decoration Day,” Memorial Day was declared set aside on May 30, 1868, by Union General John A. Logan “for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”
Immediately after the Civil War the North and South held separate Decoration Days, but by World War I the two were joined. Congress made Memorial Day an official federal holiday on the last Monday in May starting in 1971.
The Santa Clarita Valley has long observed the tradition of honoring its war dead with graveside flowers and American flags, along with a Memorial Day ceremony at Eternal Valley Memorial Park Mortuary. This year’s event is sponsored by SCV Veterans Memorial Inc. and Eternal Valley and begins at 10 a.m. Monday at the hilltop Chapel. Families are invited.
For more information, call 661-259-0800.
