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Article: Numerous Cities Claim First Memorial Day
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- May 26, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Associated Press. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Associated Press. (Hide copyright information)
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00-00-0000
Dateline: BOALSBURG, Pa.
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It was a somber show of respect and love that brought three women
to the village cemetery in 1864 to lay flowers and ferns on graves
of Civil War soldiers.
Residents say that act 139 years ago marked the nation's first Memorial
Day observance. But some two dozen communities across the United States
_ from Columbus, Miss., and Macon, Ga., to Richmond, Va., and Carbondale,
Ill. _ also claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day.
"It's very competitive," said Sara Amy Leach, the senior historian
at the National Cemetery Administration, who helps coordinate Memorial
Day events for the federal government.
"I think ...