THE MEANING & HISTORY OF MEMORIAL 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. Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace
of Memorial Day. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of
Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove
conclusively the origins of the day.
Regardless of the exact date
or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out
of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially
proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand
Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “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,” he proclaimed. The
date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the
anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at
Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the
20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.
The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in
1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South
refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until
after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died
fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).
It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with
Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363). This
helped ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern
states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead:
January 19th in Texas; April 26th in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and
Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd (Jefferson Davis’
birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
Red Poppies
In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael
replied with her own poem:
We cherish too, the Poppy
redThat grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in
honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to
wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going
to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting
the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael. When
she returned to France she made artificial red poppies to raise money for war
orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries.
In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold poppies nationally to
benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later
and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help.
Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans’
organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their “Buddy” Poppy
program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the
US Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy
movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.
National Moment of Remembrance
The “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on
Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “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.
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