Honoring the Fallen

Memories of Memorial Day: Images of Past ‘Decoration Days’ (Photos)

The Daily Beast looks back at how Americans from centuries past marked this day of remembrance.

Library of Congress

By The Daily BeastMay 27, 2012

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-flowers_z3uokg — In honor of Memorial Day, The Daily Beast takes a look back at some vintage images of past celebrations. Here, schoolchildren in Washington, DC, gather daisies for Memorial Day—then called Decoration Day—in 1899.
Frances Benjamin Johnston / Corbis

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-old-man_h44ohh — A man takes a break from hanging an American flag for Decoration Day, 1914.

Library of Congress

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-armored-cars_tpheah — New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood holds a parade to celebrate Memorial Day in 1922.

Bettmann / Corbis

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-jackie-kennedy_q1ebxk — A young Jacqueline Bouvier, the future first lady, celebrates Memorial Day at Belmont Park on New York's Long Island on May 30, 1939.

Bert Morgan / Getty Images

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-internment-camp_hqxfmr — A Japanese internment camp in Manzanar, Calif., holds Memorial Day services in 1942.

Library of Congress

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-kids-flags_fgtrq8 — Children wave flags during a Memorial Day parade in Ashland, Maine, in 1943.

John Collier / Library of Congress

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-scouts_diny93 — The original caption for this photo, of a 1943 parade in Ashland, Maine, notes, "All the boys and young men were in the Memorial Day parade; there were almost none in the audience. Over 300 men have been drafted from Ashland."

John Collier / Library of Congress

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-salute_qzmzpa — A young boy gives a salute during a Memorial Day parade in New York, on May 31, 1945.
Bettmann / Corbis

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-graves_mb7bjt — Tomas Gregson, 10, and William Rush, 8, both Boy Scouts of Brooklyn, decorate graves in the Cypress Hills National Cemetery. According to this photo's original caption, more than 500 Boy Scouts and their leaders particpated in the annual ceremony of decorating 19,000 graves.
Ed Clarity, New York Daily News Archive / Getty Images

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-stroller_x7ufud — This photo's original caption reads, "James Manico takes it easy in his carriage as his sister, Gail (left), 4, watches the Memorial Day Parade on Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn."
Paul Bernius, New York Daily News Archive / Getty Images

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-wallenda_dvifdw — On Memorial Day in 1976, Karl Wallenda, founder of the famous circus act The Flying Wallendas, walks across a cable 200 feet above a doubleheader baseball game at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. It took him 18 minutes to walk the 640-foot steel cable, stopping to do a headstand and unfurl an American flag midway through.

Bill Ingraham / AP Photo

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-bicycles_vf4nsv — Two boys decorated their bikes for Memorial Day celebrations in Longport, N.J., in 1989.

Kelly-Mooney Photography / Corbis

galleries/2012/05/27/memories-of-memorial-day-images-of-past-decoration-days-photos/vintage-memorial-day-shriners_c6qy1w — Members of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, also known as "Shriners," ride their miniature cars in a Memorial Day parade in Mystic, Ct., in 1995.

Todd Gipstein / Corbis

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