Don’t wish anyone a “Happy Memorial Day.” This is not Christmas — Memorial Day was not founded in joy with the promise of bringing glee each year. It was established as a way for the country to set aside time to honor the troops who had given their lives in service to America.

In 1868, Gen. John Logan declared the day for “the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”

Despite what the day has transitioned to in American culture, Memorial Day was established to honor and remember America’s fallen.