Memorial Day is a day to honor American servicemembers that gave their lives for this country. The holiday was originally known as Decoration Day and celebrated in the years following the American Civil War. Memorial Day was established as a federal holiday in 1971. It will be celebrated this year on Monday, May 27th.
To coincide with Memorial Day, YPL will be holding a program called The Greatest Generation. This presentation will be presented by Bob Abate who conducted oral history interviews with World War Two veterans. Abate will describe experiences of veterans during the war and he will talk about becoming friends with them. This program will be held on Thursday, May 16 at 7 PM. Please register for it through the YPL online calendar.
To learn about the experiences of Yonkers veterans that were in the service, please visit the Yonkers Remembers collection on the YPL digital archive. Included in this collection are photographs of veterans and interviews from our veterans' oral history project. The ones that we interviewed for the project served aboard during conflicts that include: World War Two, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq War.
Michael Walsh is an Adult Services Librarian at the Will Library. He is currently reading A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton.