Manchester 2025 Memorial Day Services Set To Honor Fallen Military

MANCHESTER, NJ — Manchester Township officials will honor those members of the U.S. military who died in service to the country on Monday with the township's annual Memorial Day parade and ceremony.

The 2024 ceremony will be held Monday, May 26, at World War II Veterans Memorial Park, corner of Lake Road and Monroe Avenue in Whiting.

The ceremony will be preceded by a parade down Monroe Avenue. The parade will assemble at the corner of Bayonne Avenue and Monroe Avenue at 9:15 a.m. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 a..m.

Children are invited to participate in the parade by decorating their bicycles.

The services are part of a nearly 160-year American tradition that pays tribute to military personnel who lost their lives in service to their country. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, dates back to 1868, when Gen. John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost in battle during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History.com.

As time passed, more and more people called it Memorial Day, and it became a federal holiday in 1971.

Waterloo, N.Y., is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day. The town’s observance on May 5, 1866, predated Logan’s call for a day of remembrance. Local businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags.

Until World War I, the holiday honored only those soldiers who died while fighting for the Union in the War, as Southern states honored their war dead on a separate day. After the 116,000-plus American deaths in World War I, the tradition changed to remember all who have died while serving in the military.

Every year, a national moment of remembrance is held at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. No matter where they are or what they’re doing, Americans are asked to pause for one minute in silence to remember military personnel who have given their lives in service to their country. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the midday time was chosen because it’s a time when many Americans will be enjoying their freedoms on a national holiday.