While some see Memorial Day as just another holiday weekend, the reason the annual event is marked on calendars is to remember the men and women who have fought and died as members of the United States military.

The Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives in downtown Athens will be hosting a Memorial Day program at 11 a.m. Monday in its new location at 114 W. Pryor St. Guest speaker will be Maj. Gen. Robert A. Rasch Jr., program executive officer for Missiles and Space at Redstone Arsenal in Madison County.

“We have to remember and never forget the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom,” Veterans Museum Director Sandy Thompson said. “We have to honor our military men and women, and Memorial Day is about those who have passed away.”

Veterans who have died since last year’s Memorial Day will be honored during the program. This year’s memorial will be the first held at the former Limestone County Event Center since the Veterans Museum began moving into it from across the parking lot at its previous location.

Thompson said the move is not yet complete, but visitors to the Memorial Day program can get a “sneak peek” at the work done so far on the museum’s new location.

“It feels great,” Thompson said. “We are very excited about christening our new location with our first major event. We are not anywhere near ready for a grand opening, but we will let people see what we have done so far.”

History

Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, an event put together in 1868 by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the head of a group of Union veterans after the American Civil War, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Logan said Decoration Day should be observed May 30. Eventually, different events held across the country were merged into Memorial Day, which was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress that went into effect in 1971. The act named Memorial Day as the last Monday in May.