Revisions Bring New Meaning to Memorial Day
Memorial Day was invented in 1866 by a druggist to honor Civil War dead. But in a country this vast, it probably was inevitable that even so hallowed a holiday would be open to interpretation after 126 years.
In Syracuse, N.Y., for instance, veterans who fought for Germany gathered at the grave of Otto Senf, who died last week at age 96. Senf was a founding member in 1935 of the Assn. of German Veterans of Onondaga County.
The memory of William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, slain by Shiite Muslim kidnapers, was saluted by his hometown of Stoneham, Mass.
Killeen, Tex., used the day to remember victims of the nation’s worst mass shooting. The town dedicated a red bronze monument listing the 23 people who died at Luby’s Cafeteria last October.
Hewing more to the intention of Waterloo, N.Y., druggist Henry C. Welles, who conceived of Memorial Day, Houston National Cemetery took on a patriotic look after more than 1,000 Boy Scouts placed American flags at about 30,000 grave markers this weekend.
The Memorial Day tradition of celebrating the start of summer was chilled out in many places.
Freezing temperatures throughout Michigan drove Memorial Day celebrations inside and broke records set 95 years ago.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
