Memorial Day,... a day of Remembrance and Tribute to those who have fought and died in the service of their country. In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the grand Army of the Republic issued what was called General Order Number 11, designating May 30 as a memorial day. He declared it to be "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 first national celebration of Memorial Day (originally Decoration Day) took place May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery. The national observance of Memorial Day still takes place there today, with the placing of a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the decoration of each grave with a small American flag. The holiday has changed a bit since it first began, which some argue was even earlier than Logan's dedication. Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the end of the Civil War. After the war, a women's memorial association in Columbus, Mississippi, put flowers on the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers in 1866, an act of generosity that inspired the poem by Francis Miles Finch, "The Blue and the Grey," published in the Atlantic Monthly. In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended it to honor all those who died in American wars. [Source:Library of Congress] ----------------------------- The Memorial Day Poppy Born in the wake of World War I -- hopefully regarded as "The War to End All Wars" -- the symbolic flower signifies remembrance. The poppy is also used in this same manner by Canadians and, in fact, selection of the flower by the American Legion was influenced by "In Flanders Fields," a poem composed by Lt. Col. John McCrae, a Canadian doctor. Flanders Field is where American troops were assigned to reinforce the British on the northwestern end of the 500-mile front. "Here, the first Americans fell. Here, they were laid to rest," someone wrote of the cemetery lined with row after row of white crosses and immaculately maintained. Historians say 125,000 Americans made the supreme sacrifice and were interred with the first of their comrades in Flanders. In the late spring and throughout the summer grass covered the land. An ever-present breeze spread seeds of the indigenous wild poppy over the land to create a placid, indelible scene. The Legion was founded in 1918 in Paris. It wasn't until 1921 the flower was adopted as the official memorial flower by the American Legion Auxiliary. [Source: The American Legion] ----------------------------- In Flanders Fields 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 days 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. John McCrae, 1915. -------------------------------------------------------- Whom will you be honoring on this Memorial Day? Kind Regards, Karen from Ohio,USA