Memorial Day began as a spontaneous outpouring of honoring and remembrance for six hundred thousand American soldiers who died fighting the Civil War. Towns and villages in both the North and the South began decorating the grave sites of the war dead with flowers. Decoration Day, as it was then called, became official with General Orders No. 11 issued by General John Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in May 1868.
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.
She conceived the idea of wearing 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. In 1948, the United States Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a 3 cent postage stamp bearing her likeness.
Today, in military cemeteries across the Nation and in lands where U.S. soldiers died far from home, men, women and children will gather to remember, reflect and to honor those who gave what Abraham Lincoln called the “the last full measure of devotion.”
I hope you’ll join me today at 3 P.M. in the National Moment of Remembrance. One minute of quiet reflection isn’t too much to ask to honor the supreme sacrifices which continue to make freedom possible. Wear a red poppy with pride in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Remember that “All gave some and some gave all…” for you.