Memorial Day 2026: 250 Years of the Last Full Measure
This Memorial Day 2026 lands in a year unlike any most of us have lived through. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a small group of Americans put their names to an idea that would cost generations of their countrymen their lives to defend. As we mark Memorial Day 2026, we are quite literally remembering 250 years of the last full measure of devotion. I want to step away from the IT work I do every day for businesses here in Waukesha and across Southeast Wisconsin and talk about what this day means — and how, together, we can build a living memorial right where we are. Two and a Half Centuries of Sacrifice Memorial Day didn’t start out as Memorial Day. After the Civil War — still the deadliest conflict in American history — communities across the country began visiting cemeteries each spring to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and small flags. They called it Decoration Day. It became a national observance in 1868 and was officially renamed Memorial Day in 1...