As we all prepare for barbecues, holiday sales and the three-day weekend ahead, its important to remind ourselves why we celebrate this weekend at all.  Memorial day is a time to remember soldiers, friends, family, and all loved ones who have passed, celebrate their lives this weekend, below are some historical facts* about Memorial Day.

• Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.
• Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966.
• Memorial Day 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, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
• The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.
• Moina Michael conceived the idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war.
• Since the late 50′s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.
• In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day.
• beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights.
• In 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.
• In 1915 Monica Michael responded to the poem ” In Flanders Field” : ’ We cherish too, the Poppy red; That grows on fields where valor led; It seems to signal to the skies; That blood of heroes never dies.’

*these facts are brought to you by: ‘Memorial Day History‘

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 8:24 am and is filed under State of the Heart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.