by Richard Cochrane

Memorial Day, was originally called Decoration Day because homes, business and town were decorated with flags, bunting, flowers, banners and the like. Dozens of places claim it. There is evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead.” But, the debate about where it was first done remains robust.

President Lyndon Johnson officially declared Waterloo N.Y. the birthplace of Memorial Day in May 1966 but, that went over like a lead balloon in the South and in tiny Boalsburg, Pa. that proudly boasts it is the birthplace of the one day each year to honor the memory of those who died in service to America.

Regardless of the debate over the where Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (Union Army veterans.) the day was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

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.

It was she who conceived of the 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 and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries.

Last 5 posts by Richard Cochrane

• Gender “Equality” Fact, Fiction or Even Appropriate? – May 27th, 2008
• Will MSNBC’s Chris Mathews Run For Senate? – May 26th, 2008
• McCain Invites Obama to Accompany Him to Iraq To “Educate Him.” – May 26th, 2008
• HYPOCRISY HYSTERIA AWARD CHAMPIONS – May 26th, 2008
• Patty-Cake-Like “War” on Terror – May 26th, 2008