As we all enjoy the day, let us be mindful of the true intention of this national holiday. We honor those who gave their all in service to this nation
As we all enjoy the day, let us be mindful of the true intention of this national holiday. We honor those who gave their all in service to this nation and we thank those men and women who serve to protect our freedom today. To mark this long-standing day of remembrance, many traditions have endured throughout the years.
In traditional observance, the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then 
solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon, their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.
Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act adds the flying of the POW-MIA flag on all Federal and U.S. Military Installations on Memorial Day. The POW-MIA flag is to be half-staffed until noon along with the National flag.
Other traditional observances included wearing red poppies, visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes, and visiting memorials.
Since the late 1950s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, 1,200 soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.
Source: usmemorialday.org
