Americans Observe Memorial Day

2024 · VOA Learning English

This speaker is a general-american model. Each line below can be recorded and scored against it.

Transcript

1. Memorial Day is a national holiday observed in the United States on the last Monday in May.

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2. This year, Memorial Day falls on May 27.

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3. It is a day when Americans honor the men and women who have died fighting in America’s wars.

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4. For most Americans, it also marks the unofficial start of summer. It is a popular weekend for vacationing.

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5. It is the most famous burial place in America.

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6. The tradition began on May 30th, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers in the cemetery.

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7. It was called Decoration Day back then.

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8. Since 1948, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, soldiers from the 3rd US Infantry, The Old Guard, have placed small American flags in front of

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9. every headstone in the cemetery. Lines of simple white headstones mark the soldiers' graves.

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10. But the 80-hectare cemetery also serves as a burial place for people of national and historical importance.

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11. Two presidents are buried there: William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy.

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12. Other well-known people buried at the cemetery include world champion boxer Joe Louis, North Pole explorer Robert E.

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13. Peary and the seven astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

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14. Nearly 4,000 former slaves are also buried at Arlington National Cemetery. One of them is James Parks.

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15. He dug the first graves in the cemetery.

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16. In 1980, a group of former soldiers announced a competition to design a memorial.

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17. The winner was Maya Lin, a 21-year-old student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

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18. Lin designed a memorial formed by two walls of black stone about 76 meters long. The walls meet to form a V.

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19. The names of more than 58,000 Americans killed or declared missing-in-action are cut into the stone.

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20. Almost any time of day, you can see people looking for the name of a family member or friend who died in the war.

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21. Once they find the name, many rub a pencil on paper over the letters to copy it. Many people leave remembrances at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

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22. The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953. The memorial honors those who died.

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23. It also honors those who survived. One of the lesser-known memorials on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is often called "the temple."

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24. The round stone structure honors people from the District of Columbia who died in World War I.

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25. The war was fought from 1914 to 1918.

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26. The U.S. entered the war after Japan bombed the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941.

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27. Sixteen million men and women served in the American military between 1941 and 1945.

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28. More than 400,000 died. The World War II Memorial is built of bronze and granite.

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29. In the center, at ground level, is a round pool of water. When the sun is just right, rainbows of color dance in the air.

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30. They represent each of the American states and territories, plus the District of Columbia, at the time of the war.

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31. There are not yet memorials for soldiers who died in America’s most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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32. The soldiers are buried in Section 60 of Arlington Cemetery. The section is often called “the saddest place in America.”

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33. On Memorial Day, Americans are called to stop for one minute at three o'clock local time for the National Moment of Remembrance to honor the soldiers who have

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34. died in service to the country, no matter what wars they served in. I’m Caty Weaver.

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