For some, Memorial Day is the start of summer. For many others, this is a national holiday to go shopping or rest or whatever. For the nation, this a celebratory day established to honor those who gave their life to preserve freedom and liberty. Call it a celebration of life. This is also your special day for patriotism. 
Specifically for me, observation began last night watching the 2025 National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall, as I've been doing now for 36 years, except for 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. This show is also beamed to more than 175 countries and aboard more than 200 U.S. Navy ships at sea. Up to half a million people watch in person.
I especially revere this occasion because of another Mall event, A Capitol Fourth, the concert of the National Symphony Orchestra that began on July in 1979. Went to the first one, and three more. The 1980 concert was the first to be telecasted nationwide, hosted by E.G. Marshall, and featuring Pearl Bailey. Annually, his is the highest-rated show on PBS. I just happened to work for the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1982.
In February 2019, Trump announced on Twitter plans for a "Salute to America" celebration on Independence Day, promising entertainment, a "major" fireworks display and "an address by your favorite President, me!" It was later revealed that this speech would be given from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.[5][6] Trump would become the first president to speak there since Harry Truman marked the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in an address from the National Mall on Independence Day, 1951.[7] The producers of A Capitol Fourth distanced themselves from the president's planned festivities, emphasizing they were an independent and separate event.[8][9] Due to Trump's presence, the Federal Aviation Administration suspended flights at Reagan Airport during the event.[10]
The fireworks were huge because the two events separately had this display, back to back. Only the Fox News Channel continually aired Trump's Salute. And Trump did what he said he would not do. Spoke for 47 minute promoting his 2020 presidential re-election campaign, defying the Hatch Act. Continuing his campaign efforts, Trump repeated with Salute to America 2020, taking advantage of A Capitol Fourth planners cancelling their event because of the pandemic.
In a way, Trump is back again to compete, for his Administration announced the U.S. Army 250th Anniversary Parade in DC on June 14, 2025. It amazingly happens to coincide with his 79th birthday. It has to be linked to him in some personal way. Also, this happens to be our Semiquincentennial. Yes, it will be 250 years after 1776.
The parade is expected to involve 6,600 soldiers (from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide), at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and several thousand civilians.[1][3] The Army is expecting to spend anywhere from $25 million to $45 million.[4]
Just how many died in the major wars? Deaths: 1,308,464 (1,452,040 injured)
- American Revolutionary War 23,800
- War of 1812 15,000
- Mexico-American War 13,283
- Civil War 655,000
- Spanish-American War 2,446
- Philippine War and Rebellion 4,196
- World War 1 116,516 (note that there were also
- 204,002 injured)
- World War 2 403,399 (670,846 injured)
- Korean War 36,574 (103,284 injured)
- Vietnam War 58,220 (153,303 injured)
- Afghanistan War 2,325 (20,093 injured)
- Iraq War 4,492 (32,222 injured)
- Was originally called Decoration Day at the end of the Civil War in 1865. Graves of fallen Union soldiers in their hometown were decorated with flowers. May was selected because that was when flowers bloomed. Also in May 1865, formerly enslaved Black community members in Charleston held a ceremony and parade at the site of a former racetrack where 260 Union soldiers were buried in a mass grave. They called this the First Decoration Day.
In 1868, General John Logan called on former soldiers and their communities to conduct ceremonies and decorate graves of their dead comrades. Many consider Logan to be the founder of Memorial Day.- However, it took until 1968 for Congress to pass the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, where Memorial Day became an official holiday. The last Monday of May was selected so it could be a three-day weekend. President Lyndon Johnson, when he signed the Act named Waterloo, New York as the birthplace of Memorial Day. This law went into effect in 1971.
- Other Anglo-European countries have their Memorial Day or Remembrance Day on November 11.
The U.S. began honoring November 11 as Veterans Day from the end of World War 1, also known as Armistice Day. This day honors all of those who served in the U.S. Military. Memorial Day focuses on soldiers who have died.- Interestingly enough, you would think it would be the other way around, but Armistice/Veterans Day is publicly viewed with solemnity, while Memorial Day features parades, songs, barbecues and such.
- Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina still recognize Confederate Memorial Day by closing state offices on either April 22 or May 10.
You'd think Donald Trump would be one to go golfing on Memorial Day, but he did what most presidents have done, pay tribute to fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery, honoring the "great, great warriors." But he also, in his speech, attacked his Democratic predecessors and called federal judges who have blocked his initiatives as "monsters who want our country to go to hell." Yet, at Arlington, where 400,000 have been laid to rest, he commemorated the sacrifice of service members and singled out several Gold Star families. But he couldn't resist:
“Their valor,” he said, “gave us the freest, greatest and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth. A republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years.”
45 million Americans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home over this weekend, which would be record-setting. Another 3.61 million Americans will fly.- Most stores are open today, but this is one of seven annual holidays observed by Costco.
- If you missed it and want to watch the National Memorial Day Concert 2025, click on this. If short of time, here is just the 4-minute Armed Forces Medley.
There was no cold opening for Saturday Night Live on Saturday, but that is because the Finale Recap occurred on May 17. Here is a 5-minute collage of the 50th season with Scarlett Johansson.
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