What Is Memorial Day? Civics Question 127

It is a holiday to honor soldiers who died in military service.

Question 127 asks what Memorial Day is. The accepted answer is a holiday to honor soldiers who died in military service. Memorial Day falls on the last Monday in May, and it is one of the national holidays that can also answer question 126.

What the Day Honors

Memorial Day is for the members of the armed forces who did not come home. Not everyone who wore the uniform, and not everyone who fought. The ones who died in service.

The day grew out of the Civil War, which killed more Americans than any other war in the country’s history. Families and communities set aside a day to decorate soldiers’ graves with flowers, and the day was called Decoration Day for years. It later became a national holiday on the last Monday in May.

The customs still match the meaning. Flags go on graves in military cemeteries, and the national flag is flown at half staff for part of the day.

Memorial Day Is Not Veterans Day

These two questions sit next to each other, and they are the pair applicants mix up most.

• Memorial Day honors service members who died.
• Veterans Day honors people who served, and most of them are still living.

One word separates them. Died, served. If you can hold those two words in the right order, both questions are answered.

How to Remember Memorial Day

The name carries the answer. A memorial is what you build for someone who has died: a stone, a wall, a monument with names on it. Memorial Day is the day for the people those memorials are for.

Two more hooks, if you want them. Memorial and May both start with M, so the death day is the May day. And on Veterans Day you can thank a person face to face, while on Memorial Day there is nobody left to thank.

Common Ways People Get This Wrong

The frequent miss is giving the Veterans Day answer here, saying Memorial Day honors everyone who has served. That answer belongs to question 128.

The other miss is describing it as the start of summer or a day off work. Those things are true of the calendar and are not what the question asks.

What to Say on Test Day

Say “a holiday to honor soldiers who died in military service.” Then stop.

You do not need the date, the Civil War, or the old name of the holiday. One sentence about who is honored is the answer.