Memorial Day events in and around Grundy County

The Grundy Veterans Assistance Commission issued a news release Thursday highlighting the many Memorial Day events going on around Grundy County and recounting the holiday’s history.

Observances are as follows:

Minooka American Legion Post 1188 is hosting a parade and observance at 10 a.m. Monday starting at Minooka Bible Church, 412 N. Wabena Ave., with a memorial service following at Veterans Park at the corner of Mondamin and Wabena Ave.

Morris’s John Martin Steele VFW Post 6049 is hosting a parade and observance starting at 10:30 a.m. from Chapin Park that goes to the Grundy County Courthouse, where an observance will start at 11 a.m.

The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery will have an observance at 11 a.m. at 20953 West Hoff Road in Elwood.

According to the release, the head of an organization of Union veterans, the Grand Army of the Republic established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers on May 5, 1868. Major General John A. Logan declared it should be observed on May 30, instead, and, according to the release, this date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

The first large observance, held at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It wasn’t until after World War I that Memorial Day was expanded to honor those who have died in American wars. It was declared a national holiday by Congress in 1971, and it was placed on the last Monday in May.