Honoring Our Fallen Heroes: Little Known Historical Facts About Memorial Day

1. While most people know that Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, Congress has established an exact minute of memory. The National Moment of Remembrance Act, adopted in December 2000, encourages citizens to pause each Memorial Day at 3:00 p.m. local time to remember the fallen heroes. Major League Baseball games usually come to a stop during the Moment of Remembrance. For the past several years, Amtrak engineers have practiced sounding their horns in unison at precisely 3:00 p.m.

2. Memorial Day is celebrated in late May because that's when flowers are likely to bloom across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Union General John A. Logan proposed that Congress institute May 30th as Decoration Day (the predecessor to Memorial Day), allowing citizens to decorate the graves of deceased veterans with fresh flowers. It's also believed that Logan settled on the date because it wasn't already the anniversary of any significant battles.

 WATCH: SPEAKER JOHNSON CALLS ON COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT TO RESIGN

3. The Ironton-Lawrence Memorial Day Parade in Ironton, Ohio, is recognized as the nation's oldest continuously running Memorial Day parade, beginning in 1868. However, the country's oldest (and first) Memorial Day parade was held a year earlier in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., and the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade in Queens, N.Y., each bill themselves as the largest Memorial Day parades in the nation.

 WATCH GREAT ANALYSIS: THE ABSURDITY OF ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS

4. "Taps," the bugle call typically performed at military funerals as well as the annual Memorial Day wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, was adapted from a separate Civil War bugle call known as "Scott Tattoo," which was used to signal lights out. The new melody became the preferred accompaniment at military funerals after Captain John Tidball of the Union Army ordered his men to quietly play "Taps" at a fellow soldier's funeral for fear that a traditional three-volley rifle salute would alert nearby Confederate troops to their location.

 A CRYING SHAME: PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTS FORCE USC TO CANCEL PRIMARY GRADUATION EVENT

5. The American Automobile Association (AAA) chose not to release a Memorial Day "travel forecast" in 2020 due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, which "undermined" the accuracy of the annual report, according to AAA. However, the organization released its forecast this year, predicting that holiday travel would rebound to more than 37 million, marking the first time in 20 years that the prophecy has been released.

As Americans prepare to celebrate Memorial Day, it's important to remember the day's significance and honor the brave men and women who died serving the country.