Memorial Day

General John A Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), established Memorial Day on May 5, 1868 as Decoration Day. Decoration Day was to be a day on which to decorate the graves of Civil War veterans. This day was observed in Union County as early as 1869. The first state to officially recognize Decoration Day was New York. It was not until after the end of World War I that this day was changed to honor all who have died in American wars. By 1971 Congress declared Memorial Day to be a national holiday to be observed on the last Monday in May. In December of 2000 Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act. This act encourages all Americans to observe a moment of silence at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day. Memorial Day is officially a day to honor any American service member who died in service to the United States.

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THE FLOWER OF REMEMBRANCE

IN FLANDERS FIELD

By John McMrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short day ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

In 1915, Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon in the Canadian Army wrote this poem to express his grief upon seeing the graves sites after a battle. In that same year Moina Michael of Georgia wrote the following poem.

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led.
It seems to signal the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

Ms. Michael went on to wear poppies on Memorial Day. This started a movement that spread to other countries, starting the tradition of the red poppy on Memorial Day. Anna E. Guerin of France, with the help of the VFW, started the widespread sale of artificial poppies.