COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Memorial Day is set to be recognized on Monday, while many are planning their first barbecue of the season or to get out into Colorado's beautiful wilderness, one group wants you to reflect on the sacrifices made to afford that opportunity.
Carry The Load, a national non-profit veteran and first responder service organization, was in Colorado Springs on Tuesday, hosting just one of its annual walks happening across the country.
“Carry The Load first started out of anger and frustration for a nation that we felt had forgotten the true meaning of Memorial Day,” says Stephen Holley, co-founder, president, and CEO of Carry The Load and a U.S. Navy SEAL Veteran." Since then, our 'Memorial May' campaign has helped provide healing for friends and family of the fallen and keeps their memories alive."
The group of more than 40 people gathered at Memorial Park to honor fallen heroes. Carry The Load's next stop will be in Arkansas and then on to Dallas for Memorial Day.
Origins of Memorial Day
According to the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the origins of Memorial Day go back over a hundred years, and the first ceremony is something that is still up for debate.
In just a few short years following the Civil War, on May 5, 1868, a leader of a group of Union veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic, established Decoration Day. That was one of the first recorded ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.
Presided over by Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant at the time, speeches and ceremonies were held, followed by the decorations of both Union and Confederate graves with flowers and the reciting of prayers and hymns.
Many other local cities, both in the north and south, lay claim to holding the first observance; among them is that of Columbus, Missouri. In April of 1866, it was said that four women gathered to honor the men who were killed at the Battle of Shiloh.
Causing outrage at the time in the Union-occupied city, as the women decorated both the graves of the Confederate and Union soldiers who had fallen at a time when the nation was still starkly divided, according to accounts from the Library of Congress.
Celebrations would be held locally by different cities across the country, with the first official Memorial Day observance being held at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868.
It would not be until President Lyndon B. Johnson, on June 28, 1968, that he would go on to sign legislation setting the federal observance of Memorial Day as the last Monday in May.
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