Memorial Day, what is it exactly? Many have come to know this as a day that we celebrate with BBQs, a day off work or a day to get together and drink.
Did you know that Memorial Day was originally called “Decoration Day”? It started all the way back in the late 1800s as a day where the graves of soldiers that had died while serving were decorated with flowers. It was a day of remembering.
In the 1915, John McCrae wrote the following poem, titled “In Flanders Fields”:
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.
Followed by the short poem from Moina Michael:
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.
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
People nationwide actually started wearing red poppies on their jackets/shirts on Memorial Day in remembrance of the fallen.
Today, it is a federally recognized holiday. Please take a moment to remember what we are honoring with this holiday. Those who have fallen in service to our country. The brother, the son, the father, mother, sister who are no longer with us. To those whose lives were cut short, like my grandfather who lost his life in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, before he even had a chance to meet his son. We salute you. Thank you for your service. You may be gone, but you will never be forgotten.
Thank you for posting this. I just wanted to add the entire Moina Michael poem is worth reading:
WE SHALL KEEP THE FAITH
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.
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,
But lends a luster to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.
And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
Written by Moina Michael, November 1918
Thank you and yes that is beautiful! I didn’t see the rest of the poem where I got them from.