Americans Observe Memorial Day

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

02This year, Memorial Day falls on May 29th.

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

04For most Americans, it also marks the unofficial start of summer.

05It is a popular weekend for vacationing.

06Memorial Day traditions include the observance at Arlington National Cemetery.

07It is the most famous burial place in America.

08The tradition began on May 30th, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers in the cemetery.

09It was called Decoration Day back then.

10Since 1948, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, soldiers from the 3rd U.S.

11Infantry, the Old Guard, have placed small American flags in front of every headstone in the cemetery.

12Lines of simple white headstones mark the soldiers' graves.

13But the 80-hectare cemetery also serves as a burial place for people of national and historical importance.

14Two presidents are buried there, William Howard Taft and John F.

15Kennedy.

16Other well-known people buried at the cemetery include world champion boxer Joe Lewis, North Pole explorer Robert E.

17Perry, and the seven astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

18Nearly 4,000 former slaves are also buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

19One of them is James Parks.

20He dug the first graves in the cemetery.

21The best-known memorial in the nation's capital, however, is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which opened in 1982.

22In 1980, a group of former soldiers announced a competition to design a memorial.

23The winner was Maya Lin, a 21-year-old student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

24Lynn designed a memorial formed by two walls of black stone about 76 meters long.

25The walls meet to form a V.

26The names of more than 58,000 Americans killed or declared missing in action are cut into the stone.

27Almost any time of day, you can see people looking for the name of a family member or friend who died in the war.

28Once they find the name, many rub a pencil on paper over the letters to copy it.

29Many people leave remembrances at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

30After the success of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Congress approved a memorial to the Korean War veterans, which opened in July of 1995.

31The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953.

32The memorial honors those who died.

33It also honors those who survived.

34One of the lesser-known memorials on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

35is often called the Temple.

36The round stone structure honors people from the District of Columbia who died in World War I.

37The war was fought from 1914 to 1918.

38Between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument on the National Mall is the World War II Memorial.

39The U.S.

40entered the war after Japan bombed the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

4116 million men and women served in the American military between 1941 and 1945.

42More than 400,000 died.

43The World War II Memorial is built of bronze and granite.

44In the center, at ground level, is a round pool of water.

45When the sun is just right, rainbows of color dance in the air.

46Fifty-six stone pillars rise around the pool.

47They represent each of the American states and territories, plus the District of Columbia, at the time of the war.

48There are not yet memorials for soldiers who died in America's most recent wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

49The soldiers are buried in Section 60 of Arlington Cemetery.

50The section is often called the saddest place in America.

51On Memorial Day, Americans are called to 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.

52I'm Katie Weaver.

53And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.