Once called Decoration Day
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day
of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of
America. Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day
by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966.
Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire
to honor our dead. On 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of
the Grand Army of the Republic, declared “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated
for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of
comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and
whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the
land.” The date does not commemorate a particular battle’s anniversary.
The first Decoration Day honored the graves of the 20,000
Union and Confederate soldiers.
Red Poppies
Red Poppies became a symbol of Memorial Day when Moina
Michael, inspired by the poem, “In Flanders Fields” wrote:
We cherish too, the Poppy red that grows of fields where
valor led. It seems to signal to the skies that blood of heroes never dies.
National Moment of Remembrance
A resolution of Congress asks Americans at 3:00 p.m.
local time to voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of
remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of
silence or listen to Taps.
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