LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Memorial Day is considered the unofficial start of summer but the holiday has a deeper meaning: to remember those who gave their lives and paid the ultimate sacrifice to serve and protect our country.
The holiday was originally called Decoration Day before it was formalized by a "Memorial Day Order" that was issued by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Logan said the day would be a time to remember those killed in the Civil War.
"We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance," he said. "Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic."
In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971.
Several events were held across the Las Vegas valley to honor those we have lost, including ceremonies at Palm Mortuaries & Cemeteries locations in Las Vegas and Henderson. They held memorial services, American flags were placed on veterans' graves, and they held a veterans resource fair.
The Henderson memorial service is where we caught up with Scott McKenzie. He lives in Henderson and spent 22 years in the Marine Corps. He said he always thinks of a specific soldier he served with on Memorial Day.
"I think of Corporal Michael Cook every Memorial Day. I was the Battalion Commander for the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion in Desert Storm. Cook was a member of a six-man reconnaissance team," McKenzie said. "Everyone remembers the attack through the minefields that the Marines had to make in Kuwait. But a week before that, Michael Cook was a member of one of the teams that went right up to the minefields to do reconnaissance. We took photographs of the mine field, sketched the minefield in broad daylight, and then stealthfully moved back into Saudi Arabia so we could take that information that we gathered and turn that into intelligence that actually led to the minefield breaches."
McKenzie said Cook died due to a tragic accident.
"The day after he returned, one of his grenades went off and killed him, right in our area, and wounded three other Marines," McKenzie said. "When we did get back to Camp Lejeune, after the war was over, we had a special memorial for him, which ties into our theme of Memorial Days and, of course, you hold memorials not for the individual but for his comrades who survived to get closure."
McKenzie said Cook was awarded the Bronze Star with a Combat V for his patrol. Those are awarded to soldiers for acts of heroism or valor in combat.
He added that he will never forget Cook's sacrifice and will continue to show up on Memorial Day to honor everyone he has served with over the years.
"It's what the fabric of our nation is built upon."
