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Taking the fifth on Yom Ha'atzmaut

05/28/2012 12:18 By YONATAN SREDNI

Setting one day for holiday would lessen memory of actual date of Ben-Gurion's declaration.

Photo by: Marc Israel Sellem

This past Monday was Memorial Day in the US. Starting in 1868, the country started observing the holiday on May 30. But a century later, on June 28, 1968, the Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend.

The bill moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971. However, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) advocate returning to the original date. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."

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Taking the fifth on Yom Ha'atzmaut

Setting one day for holiday would lessen memory of actual date of Ben-Gurion's declaration.

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