Remembering on Memorial Day

The beginning of the end of war lies
in remembrance.

Herman Wouk

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!

Maya Angelou

Memorial Day was first known as Decoration day, a day when people would decorate the graves of soldiers who had died with flowers, wreaths and flags.

According to the Library of Congress website, the first national celebration of the holiday took place May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery. The Decoration celebration may have originated in several different states. Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War's end. Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day.

Memorial Day was first used in 1882. It did not become more common until after World War II. In 1967 a Federal law declared the official name to be Memorial Day.

Source: Library of Congress. Today in History: May 30 . Last updated 5/2007

Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays.

The grim cannon have turned into palm branches,
and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning;
I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day.
I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it.
We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.

Benjamin Harrison

The Red Poppy has been the flower symbol for Memorial Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in other countries. The symbolism was inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields" written by World War I Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon with Canada 's First Brigade Artillery. The poem expressed McCrae's grief over the "row on row" of graves of soldiers who had died on Flanders' battlefields

In the United Stages Georgia native Moina Michael was the first to wear a red poppy on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. Mrs. Michael also sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need.

The VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) were approached to help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies.

The Buddy Poppy
A shortage of poppies from French manufacturers led to the idea of using unemployed and disabled veterans to produce the artificial flowers. In 1924, a poppy factory was built in Pittsburgh, Pa., providing a reliable source of poppies and a practical means of assistance to veterans.

The VFW conducted its first poppy distribution before Memorial Day in 1922, becoming the first veterans' organization to organize a nationwide distribution. The poppy soon was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

Today, veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities and veterans homes help assemble the poppies, which are distributed by veterans service organizations throughout the country.

For more than 75 years, the VFW's Buddy Poppy program has raised millions of dollars in support of veterans' welfare and the well being of their dependents. Donations received in return for these artificial poppies have helped countless veterans and their widows, widowers and orphans over the years.

The poppy continues to serve as a perpetual tribute to those who have given their lives for the nation's freedom.

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Poppy Flower. Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. Memorial Day Background.

Veterans of Foreign Wars. Buddy Poppy.

Image: Dani Toth. Poppy Land. Royalty Free Use.

It's not about the war.
It's about the warrior.

Marine Lt. Andrew Kinard

Wherever you are, pause for a moment of reflection and remembrance at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day.

Ask others to remember-relatives, friends, church, neighborhood, or co-workers to observe the Moment at places such as your neighborhood, local pool, picnic grounds, etc., for one minute of Remembrance.

Participation in the National Moment of Remembrance can be informal as ringing a bell three times or lighting a candle to signify the moment.

Image: Modified Microsoft Image

If silence is ever golden, it must be beside the graves of fifteen-thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the music of which can never be sung.

James A. Garfield
Then Former Civil War General

And they who for their country die
shall fill an honored grave,
for glory lights the soldier's tomb,
and beauty weeps the brave.

Joseph Drake

Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth;
Rest to each faithful eye that weepeth...

Thomas Moore

This lens benefits two different Operations working to help our armed forces.

Operation Gratitude seeks to lift morale and put smiles on faces by sending care packages addressed to individual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed overseas. Operation Gratitude care packages contain food, hygiene products, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.

Operation Helmet is a 100% volunteer, non-partisan, charitable organization that provides helmet upgrade kits free of charge to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to those ordered to deploy in the near future.