A Day to Remember

On Memorial Day millions of people celebrate with cookouts, barbecues, and fireworks. Many of them have forgotten or have never been taught that this is a special day. This is a day to remember the brave soldiers who died while serving our country and to honor their sacrifice. We must do our part to protect the freedoms they fought for.

I learned about Memorial Day when I was a child, and I even memorized the famous poem “In Flanders Fields” while I was in school. But as I grew older, I forgot who wrote that powerful poem, and I couldn’t remember when our country designated Memorial Day as an official day of remembrance. I had to do some research to find out.

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day would be observed on May 30. Some think that date was chosen because flowers would be blooming around the country.

That year they held the first large observance of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery. Several Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After the speeches, children made their way through the cemetery, laying flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers. Smaller observances had already been held in other places. Today, several places claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, but in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War.

By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. After World War I, the day was expanded to honor those who died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress to be observed on the last Monday in May. Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave. This tradition is followed at many national cemeteries today.

Other traditions that have become popular are the reading of the poem “In Flanders Fields,” as well as the wearing of a red poppy. Prior to World War I, there were hardly any poppies in the fields of Flanders, Belgium. The soils of Flanders and the north-west of France were fairly poor then, and the corn poppy thrives on richly manured, ploughed land. However, in 1915, the second year of the war, the first records appeared in letters sent home of no man’s land being “ablaze” with scarlet poppies. After that, letters written by soldiers constantly referred to the fields of poppies.

Many people have questioned why so many poppies suddenly appeared in Flanders and north-west France. Historians believe the war created prime conditions for them to flourish there. Continual bombardment disturbed the soil and brought the seeds to the surface. The seeds were fertilized by nitrogen in the explosives and lime from the shattered rubble of the buildings. In addition, the blood and bones of millions of men and animals fertilized the soil. The longer the war continued, the more the poppies thrived.

The symbolism of the poppy started with a poem written by a World War I surgeon, John McCrae, who was inspired by a cluster of bright red poppies growing on a ravaged battlefield. He wrote “In Flanders Fields” to remember those who died in the war. The poem was published later that year and was used in memorial ceremonies.

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)

Several years later, Moina Michael read “In Flanders Fields” in the Ladies’ Home Journal, and she was so moved that she made a personal pledge to “keep the faith.” Inspired by McCrae’s poem, she wrote her own poem which she called “We Shall Keep Faith.” From that day she vowed to wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields as a sign of remembrance.

In her autobiography, “The Miracle Flower: The Story of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy” (published in 1941), Moina described how the idea for a memorial emblem of a red poppy came to her. She dedicates the book to the late Colonel John McCrae and writes that his poem “In Flanders Fields” was the inspiration for her Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy.

As a result of her tireless campaigning for recognition of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy, Moina became known as “The Poppy Lady.” After the First World War, veterans’ organizations began to adopt the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who had lost their lives and for fund raising for the welfare and care of those who had served in and survived the Great War of 1914-1918.

In December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed “The National Moment of Remembrance Act” to encourage all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.

As we remember and honor those who died while serving our country, let us also pray for the loved ones they left behind.

Pray for the grieving parents whose children will never come home.

Pray for the brothers and sisters whose siblings are forever gone.

Pray for the husbands and wives who grieve in their beds, all alone.

Pray for the children crying for parents who’ll never come home.

John 15:12-13 “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”