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Gen. Mike Minihan, Commander of Air Mobility Command, visits the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station June 8, 2024.

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Memorial Day 2013

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Joseph McKee
  • 914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, N.Y. --  Early Sunday during a Memorial Day Ceremony at Forest Lawn Cemetery members of the 914th Airlift Wing, their family members, and volunteers placed American flags by the headstones of veterans interned in the Field of Valor and the American Legion section of the cemetery.

The ceremony included remarks and the placing of wreaths by local government and Veteran Administration officials. The Erie County American Legion honored the fallen veterans with a 21 gun salute in front of the Spanish American War Monument.

Memorial Day originally called Decoration Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. New York in 1873 was the first state to officially recognize this holiday. It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May. Memorial Day as a federal holiday was passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 ensuring a three day weekend. New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday.

Traditional observances of Memorial Day include the placement of flags at the graves of those who have served their country, parades in local communities and other types of recognition events.