Memorial Day Started Out As Decoration Day
During the latter part of the 1860s various towns all over the country began holding tributes during the spring to honor the fallen dead in the Civil War. Graves were decorated with flowers.
In 1868, a “Decoration Day” on May 30, was being suggested as a national holiday. The idea of a holiday held but it was many years before it would become a federal Holiday.
A Change of Name
Following World War I, the holiday’s meaning was changed to honor all United States military who have fallen in our nation’s wars, and its name was changed from Decoration Day to Memorial Day.
On Memorial Day, a wreath is laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
1968 Congressional Uniform Monday Holiday Act
This act, which went into effect in 1971, did the following:
- Set Memorial Day as the last Monday in May.
- Authorized Memorial Day to be a federal holiday.
The Emergence of the Poppy
In 1918, an American professor at the University of Georgia, Moina Belle Michael, was so moved by the poem “In Flanders Fields”, she started thinking of the idea that the red poppy should become a symbol of the War, and to honor those who served.
She then came up with the notion to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear a poppy on Memorial Day, and she sold poppies to her friends and co-workers, with the proceeds going to benefit servicemen in need. Her circle of buyers grew over the years.
Tom Michael, a great nephew of Moina Belle Michael, informed us of what his Aunt had accomplished, “During her lifetime, if you adjust for inflation, poppy sales raised $3 billion worldwide, most of which went directly to veterans.”
Moina Belle Michael became known as “The Poppy Lady.”
The Poppy Movement Grows and Is Still With Us
On Memorial Day in 1922 the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) began to nationally sell poppies
In 1924, the VFW’s “Buddy Poppy” program began selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans.
A Final Tribute
In 1948, four years following her death, a three cent stamp was issued in honor of Moina Belle Michael, with her image and the wording, “Founder of Memorial Poppy”.
A Personal Note
My father fought in the trenches during World War I. For as long as I can remember, my father always purchased a “Buddy Poppy”.
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