Memorial Day

These past few years, as so many of us have been battling against the gripping forces of globalism, socialism, and totalitarianism that evil-doers continue to push here on American soil, I find myself putting a growing emphasis on Memorial Day each year. Ofttimes I fear that too many Americans just view this holiday as a carefree, three-day-weekend that allows them to celebrate the unofficial start of summer with friends and family at a BBQ or outdoor picnic. But this could not be further from the truth, for Memorial Day is not a day of celebration at all. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. This day is, in reality, a humbling day of remembrance and immense gratitude to those who gave so much of themselves so that our country would have the ability to thrive. They died so that we can live, and live freely. This holiday is meant to be somber and full of reflection. The significance of Memorial Day is so crucial to our nation’s continued survival that I feel compelled to write and share its history and development.

The meaning of Memorial Day is sacred, as it is the day we have set aside to honor those Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice and died while serving in our country’s armed forces. The holiday originated over 150 years ago during our Civil War, when people placed flowers on the graves of those Americans who had been killed in battle. They used to refer to it as “Decoration Day” because of the decorating of the graves of the deceased. In 1868, the day had its first national observance for our fallen soldiers. It wasn’t until after World War I that the name was changed to Memorial Day. Then, in 1971, Congress made Memorial Day a federal holiday through the passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which set the last Monday in May as the annual day of observance. Many Americans observe the holiday by visiting cemeteries where flags, flowers, and the like are placed on the graves of our fallen veterans. There are also parades and ceremonies to honor our brave military members who gave the ultimate price.

Though you will likely find all kinds of flowers placed on the graves, the red poppy is often included, and some people even wear the poppies on Memorial Day as part of a tradition that started during World War I. The poppies were the flower named in what became one of the most famous war poems, “In Flanders Fields”, which was penned by Canadian soldier, John McCrae, in 1915. The poem reads:

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.

American Moina Michael was so inspired by “In Flanders Fields” that she wrote the poem “We Shall Keep the Faith” in 1918. Her work helped memorialize the red poppy flower as the symbol used when honoring the fallen. Her poem reads:

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 lustre 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.

I hope that this Memorial Day you will remind others that its true meaning is gratitude and praise for our fellow Americans who gave their lives in the name of our freedom and liberty. We cannot lose sight of the deeply honest truth that, freedom is not free!

To those families who have a fallen soldier in their history, whether past or present, I salute your soldier, I salute you, God bless and keep you always, and God bless these United States of America.

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