Memorial Day in America

01Memorial Day is a national holiday observed in the United States on the last Monday in May.

02This year, Memorial Day is observed on May 31st.

03It is the day when Americans honor the women and men who have died fighting in America's wars.

04For most Americans, however, it is the unofficial start of summer.

05Carol Everhart is president of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce.

06The organization often refers to the towns in Delaware as the nation's summer capital, since people from Washington, D.C.

07will likely spend the summer along their beaches.

08Everhart said, we expect very, very high visits this summer.

09She pointed out that some could not wait to start their summer vacation after the year-long pandemic.

10People, she said, have visited the Delaware coasts as early as January, shortly after the start of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

11In 2019, the Delaware beaches had nearly 8 million summer visitors.

12With vaccination and without cloth face coverings or social distancing, Everhart said she expects to have as many as 9 million visitors this year.

13Back in the nation's capital of Washington, D.C., Memorial Day tradition continues with the observance at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River.

14It is the most famous burial place in America.

15Before the pandemic, more than 4 million people visited the cemetery every year.

16The tradition began on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers in the cemetery.

17It was called Decoration Day back then.

18Since 1948, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, soldiers from the 3rd U.S.

19Infantry, the Old Guard, have placed small American flags in front of every headstone in the cemetery.

20Lines of simple white headstones mark the soldiers' graves.

21But the 80-hectare cemetery also serves as a burial place for people of national and historical importance.

22Two presidents are buried there.

23William Howard Taft in 1930 and John F.

24Kennedy in 1963.

25Other famous people buried at the cemetery include world champion boxer Joe Lewis, North Pole explorer Robert E.

26Perry, and the seven astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

27Nearly 4,000 former slaves are also buried at Arlington.

28One of them is James Parks.

29He dug the first graves in the cemetery.

30The best-known memorial in the nation's capital, however, is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which opened in 1982.

31In 1980, a group of former soldiers announced a competition to design a memorial.

32The winner was Maya Lin, a 21-year-old student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

33Lin designed a memorial formed by two walls of black stone about 76 meters long.

34The walls meet to form a V.

35The names of more than 58,000 Americans killed or declared missing in action are cut into the stone.

36Almost any time of day, you can see people looking for the name of a family member or friend who died in the war.

37Once they find the name, many rub a pencil on paper over the letters to copy it.

38Many people leave remembrances at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

39After the success of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Congress approved a memorial to the Korean War veterans, which opened in July of 1995.

40The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953.

41The memorial honors those who died.

42It also honors those who survived.

43The Korean War has been called the Last Foot Soldiers' War.

44The memorial includes a group of 19 statues of soldiers.

45People who drive along a road near the memorial sometimes think the statues are real soldiers.

46The Women in Military Service for America Memorial opened in 1997.

47The memorial is near the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery.

48It recognizes the service of all the women who have taken part in the nation's wars.

49About two million women have served or currently serve in the armed forces.

50One of the lesser-known memorials on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

51The memorial is often called the temple.

52The round stone structure honors people from the District of Columbia who died in World War I.

53The war was fought from 1914 to 1918.

54The memorial was completed in 1931.

55It is the only District of Columbia Memorial on the National Mall.

56Between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument on the National Mall is the World War II Memorial.

57The United States entered the war after Japan bombed the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

5816 million men and women served in the American military between 1941 and 1945.

59More than 400,000 died.

60The World War II Memorial is built of bronze and granite.

61In the center, at ground level, is a round pool of water.

62Except in very cold weather, water shoots from a circle of fountains in the middle.

63When the sun is just right, rainbows of color dance in the air.

64Fifty-six stone pillars rise around the pool.

65They represent each of the American states and territories, plus the District of Columbia, at the time of the war.

66On two tall arches appear the names of where the fighting took place.

67One says Atlantic, the other says Pacific.

68There are not yet memorials for soldiers who died in America's most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

69The soldiers are buried in Section 60 of Arlington Cemetery.

70The section is often called the saddest place in America.

71On Memorial Day, Americans will stop for one minute at 3 o'clock local time for the National Moment of Remembrance to honor the soldiers who have died in service to the country, no matter what wars they served in.

72I'm Ana Mateo.

73And I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

74I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

75I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

76I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

77I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.