US Embassy closed on Monday for Memorial Day

The United States Embassy in Manila will be closed this Monday, May 30, in observance of the US holiday Memorial Day. In an announcement on its Facebook page, the US Embassy said it will resume regular office activities on Tuesday, May 31. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in the United States' service. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. It was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery, according to an article on a website on the holiday. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states, the article said. But the South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war, it added. The article said Memorial Day is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May, following the National Holiday Act of 1971, to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays. — RSJ, GMA News