The Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer and a major driving vacation holiday. More importantly, though, as every veteran will tell you, the last Monday of May each year commemorates the men and women who died while in military service.

In observance of the day, many people will visit cemeteries and memorials, and place American flags on gravesites at national cemeteries. Others will meditate silently or pray for the fallen at 3pm on Monday, May 27.

In December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed -- and President Clinton signed into law  --  “The National Moment of Remembrance Act.”

“Each Memorial Day, the Nation honors those Americans who died while defending our Nation and its values. While these heroes should be honored every day for their profound contribution to securing our Nation's freedom, they and their families should be especially honored on Memorial Day. The observance of a National Moment of Remembrance is a simple and unifying way to commemorate our history and honor the struggle to protect our freedoms,” President Clinton said when signing the bill into law.

The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.

Memorial day dates back to the post-Civil War period when, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established a national Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed nationally on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.