This entry is not about games or a gaming related topic. This entry is about a day that is now known as Memorial Day. A day to honor the fallen soldiers who died for protecting a cause they believed in.
Most of the content of this post is coming from a History.com article (Memorial Day 2021: Facts, Meaning & Traditions - HISTORY). Some in summary, some copied.
HISTORY OF REMEMBRANCE DAY
Memorial Day began after the U.S Civil War as a way to honor those who died during the war. The exact start of the holiday is not confirmed but here is a piece that is accepted as truth:
"On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated 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,” he proclaimed.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle."
The states that made up the Union during war continued the tradition and each made it an official state holiday (by 1890) whereas the Southern states celebrated on different days. Because of the United States involvement during “The Great War,” the meaning of the holiday had changed to honor the fallen from all the conflicts since the Civil War.
The change of date was done via an Act of Congress in 1968 which took effect in 1971 so that Remembrance Day is changed to Memorial Day and that it would be celebrated on the last Monday in the month of May (thus creating a three day weekend for Federal employees).
RED POPPY
Another part of the traditions of Memorial Day is the wearing of the Red Poppy. This was done to remember those who had fallen in “The Great War” and the poppy icon came from a poem written by a Canadian Lieutenant Colonel in 1915 who served during the war. Here is that peom…
“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
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.
Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.
Lest we forget...
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