When is Memorial Day? This year, as early as possible

(NEXSTAR) – Memorial Day, the unofficial start to summer with a simple but important significance, is fast-approaching. In fact, it’s approaching as fast as possible.

For more than 160 years, the U.S. has been observing Memorial Day in some form or another. It was formally declared a national holiday by Congress in 1968.

Back in 1866, Waterloo, New York, held a city-wide “Decoration Day,” encouraging citizens to place memorials on the graves of soldiers.

Two years later, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, established the first-ever national Decoration Day, a time for Americans to decorate the graves of the war dead with........

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