"... From these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain ..."

-- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

Memorial Day, the day we remember those who have given their lives in the service of our country, is also the unofficial start of summer.

On the last Monday in May every year, we fly flags at half-staff until noon and visit the gravesites of the fallen.

The original idea for Memorial Day came in 1865, when Henry C. Wells, a druggist in the village of Waterloo, N.Y., suggested that honor should be shown to those killed in the Civil War by decorating their graves.

According to the U.S. Memorial Day Web site, townspeople adopted the idea and made wreaths, crosses and bouquets for each veteran's grave.

Memorial Day, originally called "Decoration Day," was created by General Order No. 11, issued by Gen. John A. Logan, first commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in 1868. The date of the order came exactly two years after Waterloo's first observance.

Logan proclaimed May 30 as Decoration Day and wrote, in reference to the "cost of a free and undivided republic":

If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.

The date of the order came exactly two years after Waterloo's first observance.

Until World War I, the South did not observe Memorial Day; rather, southerners maintained their own day of observance.

Memorial Day now commemorates all those who have died in the service of their country. Since the Civil War, more than 1.1 million veterans, both women and men, have lost their lives in service to America.