While it is common to say Happy Memorial Day, the members of the Watch Hill Fire Department actually refer to the day in a much more respectful and somber tone.

Memorial Day honors the more than one million soldiers who died while serving our country.

The holiday is a day of mourning, specifically meant to honor and pay tribute to the military personnel who died in the line of duty.

The holiday began three years after the Civil War ended and was originally known as Decoration Day and was a time to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. It became an official federal holiday in 1971.

According to the United States Veterans Administration, the combined total military deaths from all of America’s Wars beginning with the Revolutionary war, is more than one million soldiers who died serving our country.

They are the brave men and women who we must honor every Memorial Day. They are the ones we must pay tribute to on this solemn day. They are the reason we are free!

May we walk in the memory of those who forever hold the burdens of our freedom.