Memorial Day is May 31, 2021! Coming up quick! Take the time to honor, cherish and remember our brave soldiers who fought for our wonderful Nation.

Brewster Place takes great pride in honoring our servicemen and women. Recently, Brewster has dedicated much time and effort to our new Brewster Veterans Hall of Honor. This veteran’s hall pays tribute to our Brewster residents, staff, board members and family members for their service to our beautiful nation. This sacred space has beautiful natural light that shines onto floor to ceiling granite walls that are filled with quartz stone tiles.  Each tile honors a special veteran with their name, branch and years of service. We also have a 24 hour presentation of our veterans’ photos displayed in the hall.

Our Brewster family is excited to show off the new veteran’s hall. Visitors are welcome to walk through Memorial Day weekend.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Memorial Day was originally named Decoration Day. In 1971, Decoration Day officially became known as Memorial Day when congress passed an act declaring it a national holiday. That same year Memorial Day was moved from May 30^th to the last Monday in May.
• The first Memorial Day celebration was on May 30^th, 1868 and was held at Arlington National Cemetery with a crowd of 5,000 people decorating graves of more than 20,000 military personnel with flowers.
• It wasn’t until after World War I that Memorial Day was expanded to honor all veterans who died in an American War.
• The reason people wear red poppies to honor and show respect for America’s fallen soldier’s dates back to the poem “In Flanders Fields,” written in 1915 by John McCrae. The poppies are to be worn the Friday before Memorial Day.
• The National Moment of Remembrance Act encourages all Americans to pay tribute wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.
• Hang your flag at half-staff until noon and then go up to full-staff until sundown.
• Playing Taps is a traditional part of Memorial Day celebrations, but did you know that the song came from a U.S. general who thought the bugle call signaling bedtime could use a more melodious tune, so he wrote the notes for “Taps” in 1862.

Each Memorial Day, my family and I place flowers at the gravesides of our loved ones. We take time at each grave to cherish and remember our loved ones; such a special time we have together. Memorial Day is a day to pay tribute to your family, and friends and to all of those who have fallen for our country. Whether you wear a red poppy; decorate your yard, town, or cemetery with the American flag; place flowers at gravesides or sit and talk about our nation’s veterans at church, the store, or even a campsite- please take the time to honor, remember and cherish our brave soldiers.

Do you have a Memorial Day tradition? If so please feel free to comment below! I love to read about new or old family traditions!

Thank you in advance for honoring our brave soldiers.

Chelsy Wessel

Sources:

• Historical Army Foundation: “General John A. Logan, Memorial Day founder”
• TIME: “Memorial Day Weekend: Why the Holiday is Always on a Monday”
• U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs: “In Flanders Fields”
• Va.gov: “Guidelines for Display of the Flag”
• History: “How Did ‘Taps’ Originate?”