It's Memorial Day 2008

Today is Memorial Day, the federal holiday where U.S. men and women who have died in military service are remembered. Federal and state offices are closed, as well as post offices, schools, financial markets, and banks. Alternate side of the street parking rules are suspended and mass transit is running on weekend schedules (though there's additional weekend service on some lines)

Mayor Bloomberg will be speaking at Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park at 11 a.m. and the Whitestone Memorial Field at 12:15 p.m.; he'll be marching in the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade at 2 p.m.

There are also many remembrances, whether about the military or the season, from the local papers: Here are editorials from the NY Post and NY Daily News that remember the fallen, while ones from NY Times and Newsday discuss the summer. And, as always, there are many events going on today, from Fleet Week to concerts and sunbathing. But the nation's moment of remembrance is at 3 p.m. today--here is President Bush's Prayer for Peace for this Memorial Day.

Photograph of Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park by dschaub on Flickr