Monday, May 27 is Memorial Day, a day to honor the nation’s fallen. It’s a day to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. It’s nice to enjoy the long weekend, and it might be fun to do some shopping, but to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln’s words, it’s important for us to remember the costly sacrifice which has been laid on the altar of freedom.

Observing a day of remembrance in the United States of America has roots in the tributes which were held in the spring of 1865 following the Civil War. It’s said that formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, organized the earliest commemorations as war graves were decorated with flowers.