On this Memorial Day we remember, reflect and thank the fallen heroes that have made the ultimate sacrifice so we can enjoy everything this wonderful country offers us. Here is the history of Memorial day along with a few select quotes.  

Memorial Day History

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

Frederick Douglass Decoration Day, May 30, 1871 (A "must read", click the link and enjoy!)

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." – George S. Patton

"The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way -- be willing to give of ourselves." – Ronald W. Reagan

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." – Nathan Hale

"It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle." – Norman Schwarzkopf

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." – Joseph Campbell

"The dead soldier’s silence sings our national anthem." – Aaron Kilbourn

"They are dead; but they live in each Patriot’s breast, And their names are engraven on honor’s bright crest." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours." – Wallace Bruce

"And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me." – Lee Greenwood