No Greater Love: The Importance of Memorial Day

The COVID-19 virus may have derailed many public Memorial Day observances in Fayette County this year, yet John F. Kennedy’s words in his 1961 inaugural address still ring loud and true. Photos from a Memorial Day ceremony in La Grange hosted by Koenig-Belvill Funeral Home in 2016 remind us that our commitment to honoring those who died in the service of this country remains steadfast.

They will never be forgotten and our debt to them will never be paid in full.

About Memorial Day

Three years after the Civil War ended, the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, established Decoration Day on May 5, 1868, as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of its war dead with flowers.

When Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act on June 28, 1968, it moved Memorial Day from its traditional date of May 30 to the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend.

The law, which went into effect in 1971, also made Memorial Day a federal holiday. For many, it is the official start of the summer season.

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

– President John F. Kennedy